simple equation

Food blogger + pot luck = never ending amount of food to feed your tummy all the way till your soul. Er, the last part meant, endless conversations and food topics. Ladies, maybe we can do this every month!! But maybe the amount of food can be reduced so we can still enter through the door. Ho ho ho.

Ok so the mission is a pot luck cum BBQ. Contenders, me (of course), Wendy of Table for 2… or more, Tracie of Bitter Sweet Flavours, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover, Veronica of Quay Po Cooks, Pei-Lin of Dodol & Mochi, and the host, Reese of ReeseKitchen. Seven of us to rule the barbecue pit. But the weather wasn’t treating us well. Ahh I’ll tell u why in a bit.

Each of us brought in some food for the pot luck session. Being food bloggers, we want to make so many things and share but we just don’t have enough stomachs to eat them all. So hrmmm if u’re in KL and wanna join us, drop me a mail 😉 Prior to the gathering, we had alot of emails among each other deciding on what type of food we wanna bring so we don’t end up with 10 cakes and 1 rice dish and sandwiches (get what I mean… ) We tried separating the menu to starters, salad, main, bbq food, dessert, snacks and whatevernots, just so we have a balanced “diet” (ahem…) and also cause we’re food bloggers, we wanna make something nice 😉

Cut things short, the day arrived and we were all pretty much excited about it.

So come the day, most of us arrived at about 3-4pm at Reese’s place. Poolside bbq, sounds good right? Not quite yet.hehe

We started off by the norm, Yee Sang since it’s Chinese New Year.

Homemade yee sang is so much better than store bought ones or those mediocre ones served in restaurants. I remember the only time I’ve eaten home made yee sang was during my student days in Sydney. My housemate made it. It was super yummy. This one by Sonia is equally good! I checked, she has a recipe here! Fret not you can make it next year for CNY too!!

Lou lou lou! Toss toss toss! Don’t even imagine what we ‘wished’ for when we did the  tossing. HAHAHA 😉

After the yee sang, we ate non stop. Hahaha Some of us were busy starting fire for the BBQ, we got it done after a while and started to put in everything we could as the sky looks abit, gloomy 🙁

There you have it, chicken wings marinated by Reese. It was quite unusual to me cause the marinade was green!! Yup, it’s with coriander, lemongrass and shallots. Simple to prepare, and although it looks green at first, it tasted good!! I was abit worried if it could be too overwhelming with coriander but wrong, I was. It’s yummy! Found the recipe here.

The one wrapped in aluminium foil was Sonia’s Assam Fish wrapped in banana leave. Hrmm, can’t find the recipe on her site. So just gotta wait till she posts it up. By the time the fish were cooked, it started to drizzle a little. We had to pack everything back up into Reese’s place and eat it in her dining hall. Too bad I didn’t take any pictures of the fish.

Lastly, the one you see at the back wrapped in banana leaves are Veronica’s dish, Otak Otak. Goooood!!!! I don’t know why I have weird cravings for Otak-Otak. No, actually I don’t know why I like to eat Otak-otak so much. She doesn’t have the recipe in her blog but we’re all waiting for it!!!It’s here! One of the best Otak-otak I’ve ever had. I shall (read, SHALL) attempt to make it next time. 😛

I made some Vietnamese style Spring Rolls to balance off the meal since it’s packed with more vegetables than other things. Will post the recipe soon. It was my first time making this, luckily it turned out not too bad. Previously, I had wrapped them during my student days in Sydney. Back then, I had a Vietnamese friend who prepared this dish for us during one of the pot lucks we had fortnightly. This one was … passable. Lol

Notorious homemade Bak Kwa (Minced pork jerky) by Wendy! The last time she made this, it was 15 years ago *gasp* This time, she attempted it again and it was good. You’d need to sundry the slices before barbequeing them. And I was the one who barbequed it, as quick as possible before the rain starts to pour.

No, as quick as possible because it burns VERY VERY FAST!!!

Me, living the bak kwa moment. Haha It’s not easy to cook them over big flames!! I must be shouting “aahh!! slower slower slower” But the effort has paid off, though some of them are severely burnt. LOL It’s much porkier than those sold outside. boo

We had 2 main dishes, one of them was Shanghai Noodles from Veronica. If i’m not wrong, it’s this one here. Simple stir fried noodles that takes on sambal very well. And also to eat fill in your stomach before the chicken wings are ready.

The other was Nasi Kerabu which me and Wendy made. OK actually she made the more important parts. I only made the rice and the ulam. The cucumber pickles were by Veronica. No recipe for this yet as it was my first time doing it. Although it’s quite easy to make the rice and ulam. Just cook the rice with water soaked with bunga telang (Blue Pea Flower) It’s a natural colouring hence the rice has turned abit blue-ish. For the ulam, slice vegetables like cabbage, long beans, bunga kantan (ginger flower) and some coriander. Remember to slice as thin as possible. I knew it too late. HahaFor the rest of the condiments, you’d have to wait for Wendy 🙂

Are you full to brim yet just by looking at the amount of food we had ?

For desserts, we had 3 things. I made mini Ispahan cakes. I just posted the recipe a couple of days back, here.

The rest were prepared by Tracie. This one here is a nian gau puff made by wrapping stick cake in puff pastry. The recipe here it is. She also made red bean tong sui. My picture didn’t turn out good but it looks just like this one!

Not forgetting Pei-Lin who turned up albeit late. Poor girl came even when she was sick. She brought in Penang style fruits rojak (uh, forgot to take pictures hence I took it off her flickr website)

Ah.. wait!! Wendy gave each of us her agar agar candy as well. No pics again lol!! But it’s on her blog.

Just 7 of us, and it looks like a feast for 14! I had a great time and I hope there are more to come!! Woo hoo!

Today is the last day of the Chinese New Year Celebrations (Hence, Happy Chinese Valentines Day), are u going to throw mandarin oranges into the river / pond / sea? I went last year to throw some mandarin oranges, in hopes of finding a good husband (Haha, the tradition says so! not me 😛) But I still haven’t found one yet. Such difficulties, can someone make it easier for me? Lol

Anyways, there’s a saying that my mum told me a few days ago. You’d have to say it in Hokkien to understand it (makes more sense if in Hokkien)

Moh kam, keh hor ang
(Throw mandarin oranges, marry a good husband)
Moh peng koh, chua hor boh
(Throw apples, marry a good wife)
Moh keng jeiu, tiuk beh peiu
(Throw banana, win lottery)

Ok then maybe I should throw the mandarin orange and banana together, so I can marry a good husband and win lottery! HAHAHA

Have u tried the whole “throwing mandarin oranges” thingy before?

Happy Chap Goh Meh!!