Nonya Curry Chicken – 7th Teban Gardens Community Breakfast on 4Mar2016

this morning i made nonya curry chicken. ^^

this my 7th friday breakfast community meal at teban gardens community service centre (CSC).

i first started doing a community meal dish for teban gardens CSC on 8.1.2016.

the centre was started in 2002 after much effort & challenge by our RI friend who is a pastor of pasir panjang hill brethren church (pphbc) which owns & runs the CSC.

i used my usual nonya curry chicken recipe here.

for this recipe, i don’t use curry powder but make the curry paste from scratch.

so last evening, i made the paste, deboned 2×1.5kg chicken, & boiled the bones of 1 chicken with 1 cut carrot, 1/2 cut radish in crockpot to make stock for this morning.

this morning i fried the cinnamon bark, star anise, clove & curry leaves in 2 tbsp oil, added the curry paste & fried till fragrant, then added the deboned chicken & coated them. then added 2 cups of chicken stock & covered, lowered fire & boiled for 10mins (20mins if not deboned). then i removed the chicken & boiled the cut taupok & potatoes for 15mins, till taupok was soft & soaked with curry but not falling apart, & potatoes broke in 2 when pressed with a fork – just right & not overcooked.

it was a wonderful tasting dish, incredible aroma & taste.

yum yum!

taupok

taupok

love the taupok too, and the potatoes also very tasty, just don’t take much for the carbs la…

of course the potatoes & taupok need not be cooked separately, but 2 chicken in a pot was quite a lot to manage & i wanted to make sure the chicken were tender & not overcooked, and likewise the taupok & potatoes, so easier to manage them separately la…

c.h.e.f andy

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The Best Crab Beehoon Soup @ Uncle Leong Jurong East on 17Nov2015

crab beehoon soup

S$63 crab beehoon soup

i bought a S$200 groupon voucher & 5 of us went to uncle leong seafood at 262 Jurong East Street 24, #01-485 Singapore 600262 for crabby dinner on 17.11.2015. ^^

all my friends agreed this was the best crab beehoon soup we had for years!

uncle leong jurong east

uncle leong jurong east

uncle leong jurong east

uncle leong jurong east

2 of us were there slightly earlier at 6.45pm. the crowd came in later & place was quite well patronised, not sure if it was because of the groupon deals.

sri lankan crab

S$63/kg sri lankan crab

we managed to get 2x1kg sri lankan crabs. ^^

at first the lady server said may not have 1kg (only bigger) but she went anyway to check & i went over also, and she got the 2x1kg crabs. 🙂

display shelves

display shelves

they had display shelves. 🙂

our enjoyable crabby dinner

our enjoyable crabby dinner

we decided on 1 crab beehoon soup. i asked about the dry crab beehoon but seemed that it was not a popular order. we picked the golden sand crab + 1 deep-fried mantou 馒头 (or buns).

crabs were S$63/kg, so that took up S$126 of the S$200 voucher. we ordered 4 other dishes – a 3eggs spinach, spicy minced pork tofu (锅仔豆腐), sea cucumber seafood pot and a pumpkin prawns. 🙂

crab beehoon soup

S$63 crab beehoon soup

the crab beehoon soup was pure heaven!!! ^^

so intense, smooth, sweet, and the crab was firm & “solid” (there was actually a clause on the online menu saying they do not guarantee that the crabs are “solid”). 🙂

crab beehoon soup

S$63 crab beehoon soup

for me, heaven was a long time coming.

last time i had crab beehoon soup was december 2014 at mama kong. no comparisons really!

& before that, maybe fast backwards 15 years? at melben toa payoh ave 8. that was heavenly too. in between? don’t know but i don’t remember…

spicy minced pork tofu

S$15 spicy minced pork tofu (锅仔豆腐)

the other dishes we ordered turned out to be good, very good to excellent too.

the spicy minced pork tofu (锅仔豆腐) belonged to the just “good” category. a very competent dish actually, can’t really criticise it, but the spicy chilli not the type i like. it was not so matching food and by comparisons, the other dishes  were much better.

3 eggs spinach

S$15 – 3 eggs spinach

this 3 eggs spinach was quite excellent.

3 eggs spinach

S$15 – 3 eggs spinach

one of the best tasting i had. it is a common dish at zi char & i thought of not ordering it.

3 eggs spinach

3 eggs spinach

but it was done really well. spinach was crunchy not overcooked & you could taste the 3 eggs distinct flavours quite well. 🙂

sea cucumber seafood treasure pot

S$30 sea cucumber seafood treasure pot

& this was a really, really good sea cucumber seafood treasure pot.

sea cucumber seafood treasure pot

S$30 sea cucumber seafood treasure pot

the sea cucumber were not the top quality thick ones, but still quite good quality. the prawns, fish, razor clams, scallops etc were all very fresh & the broth was really delicate, smooth but super tasty, par excellence! 🙂

sea cucumber seafood treasure

sea cucumber seafood treasure

for me, this dish can rank with what top chinese restaurants here can deliver.

pumpkin sauce prawns

S$25 pumpkin sauce prawns

the pumpkin prawns was very competent dish. prawns were fresh, same preparations basically deep-fried. only difference with wasabi, salted egg etc was the sauce.

a friend preferred the salted egg version. for me the pumpkin sauce was good too, but somehow i remembered they tasted better at ah yat turf city (quite sometime back) in pumpkin crabs but i think those had curry leaves flavours.

golden sand crab

S$63 golden sand crab

for me, the golden sand crab was very good too. this was their signature dish.

my friends were ok with it, not so wowed as the crab beehoon soup! 🙂

crab claws2 crab claws

the crab though same 1kg, somehow had smaller claws, still good but overall the crab beehoon soup trumped this.

deepfried mantous

deepfried mantous

deep-fried mantou 馒头 (or buns) to dip in the creamy sauce.

golden sand crab + mantous

S$63 golden sand crab + mantous

some may prefer chilli or pepper crab. i don’t mind this at all or the pumpkin crab, probably like them better than the salted egg version.

dinner came to S$234, so with the groupon voucher discount (S$119.80 for S$200), it was S$154 for 5pax, 6 excellent dishes with 2x1kg crab dishes & a really “right up there” sea cucumber seafood treasure pot. about S$31pax nett.

i must add that the service & attitude (almost entire army of chinese servers) were really good. i gave them a sizable tip when leaving.

we all enjoyed the dinner & company tremendously. after that we adjourned to a friend’s place nearby for a nice cuppa, nespresso. 🙂

i bought another voucher when i got back. ^^

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Uncle Leong Seafood (Jurong East)

Address: #01-485, 262 Jurong East Street 24, 600262
OPENING HOURS:Mon – Fri: 12:00 – 22:00 Sat, Sun &: 14:00 – 23:00
PHONE:+65 68972881

Salted Egg Curry Leaves Prawn Spaghetti – An Experiment

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

did a quick experiment on a salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti this morning…

tried a salted egg pasta at a quite excellent dinner at petite menu earlier on 22.3.2014 & wanted to try cooking the dish. had 2 salted duck eggs left from a recent 12-course homecooked dinner where i tried the chinese style salted egg prawns, so decided to cook it for lunch for my son.

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

salted egg curry leaves prawn spaghetti

i minced 2 salted egg yokes after boiling the eggs earlier.

i had some browned garlic cloves in olive oil in the fridge leftover from the day before so i added that to a pan & fried 1 stalk of curry leaves (w/o the stem) to bring out the flavour, then i added the minced salted egg yokes. lastly i added 1/2cup of white wine & some sugar to taste (1 teaspoon).

i had my spaghetti done as usual just below al dente.

i decided to practice deep fry prawns instead the usual pan fry.  i added fish sauce, sea salt & white pepper PLUS yuzu salad sauce & fresh egg yoke to a pack of shelled small prawns (about 20+) & seasoned. then i put 3 tablespoon flour in a bowl & heated a small saucepan of oil. i coated the prawns & dropped into the oil for a very quick fry.

when all ingredients were ready, i reheated the pan with the salted egg sauce till it boiled, then i off the fire and added the spaghetti & tossed & lastly added the deep-fried prawns.

i tasted the dish. it was very tasty as good as my usual seafood alio olio. the deep-fried prawns were fresh & good too though nothing special. there was curry leaves flavour but i could not detect much of the salted egg flavour.

my son enjoyed the pasta very much & walloped the entire plate. 🙂

while the dish was quite tasty & looked good with the colour & garnishing of the chopped salted egg yokes which also contributed texture, it was just another tasty dish & did not really stood up as a salted egg pasta.

c.h.e.f andy