How Food Affects Our Health

Lets look at some figures about my beloved country Malaysia before we proceed further:

• 'Fattest' country in SEA, 1 in 6 Malaysian is either overweight or obese
• Death Rate related to cardiovascular system (heart related) = 25.64% (No.1 Killer in Malaysia)
• 22% adults affected by diabetes in 2012 compare to 8.6% in 2006

Just simply google with relevant key words and you will get above figures. Anyway because this is food blog so i am to further elaborate more from food points of view. 

Physically and of the basic, we need energy from foods to generate energy to fuel our daily activity. Without foods, we simply cant move and we will eventually die. But as we become 'richer', in terms of monetary, time and technology, we tend to go beyond the basic needs and that begins the bad cycles. Lets look at below pictures:

Fat, sugar, carbohydrate and unhealthy lifestyle is the main reason for
many NCD and Heart Attack is the No. 1 Killer in Malaysia. 

Above are ordinary foods/drinks that we ate almost everyday: Fried chicken, Air Bandung (Rose Syrup in condense milk), Rice. These evils are high in FAT, SUGAR and CARBOHYDRATE (unused will be turned to sugar). And if with the high intake of these evil foods without proper lifestyle, i.e. without exercise to burn off, all the evil essences will be just stored in your body, day after day, year after year. And subsequently it is not hard to imagine, one will become overweight (Body Mass Index more than 25, click here for the BMI calculator to check your figure)

When one became overweight, health issues follow. Non-Communicable-Disease (NCD) such as stroke, heart attack, diabetic starts from unbalance diet (such as above example) and unhealthy life style (no exercise regularly) and that explained a phrase which you might long heard of "You are what you eat". I'm strong believer of this statement because your digestive system will just absorb anything you eat in and eventually reflected in your health. 

So what do we do? Execute a balanced diet and exercise regularly seems to be the only answer. Read from my another post "5 ways to eat Healthy" for some more tips. 

Spaghetti Stir Fried with Hotate Scallop and Bacon

I miss the bacon and scallop combo (texture and flavour) !!!

When it comes to spaghetti, it is always a simple an versatile dish which can be done in less than 30 min from prep to table. For this post, im going to show you a simple spaghetti in stir fried style which i think most of us are very familiar with.

For 2 pax ingredients:

• Frozen Hotate Scallop ................. half pack
• Pork Bacon Chunks..................... half pack
• Spaghetti ..................................... 200 g
• Sweet Onion.................................1 halfed and sliced
• Oil (pref plant base) ..................... 2 tbsp
• Garlic .......................................... 3 cloves
• Bay Leaf ..................................... 1
• Dried Thyme................................ 1 tea spoon
• Salt .............................................. Liking Amount
• Brown Sugar ............ .................. Liking Amount
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper...... Liking Amount
• Water ........................................... 200 ml
• Parsley .......................................... garnish 
• Chili Flakes .................................. Liking amount (optional)
• Butter ........................................... 1 knob (optional)

Direction:

1. Half and Slide the sweet onion and rough chop the garlic
2. Lit up the fire and pre heat frying pan with oil 
3. On another burner, boil 1 liter of water with 1 tea spoon of salt
4. Sautee the onion until brown (5-10 min)
5. Add in garlic, hotate scallop and bacon chunks
6. At this point, spaghetti into the boiling water (10 - 12 min)
7. Continue to stir fry the ingredients until brown (5 min)
8. Add in bay leaf, thyme, seasonings and water and bring to boil (5-7 min)
9. The gravy mixture should be thickened up and you can drain the spaghetti and pour them into the mixture and let it further cook for 1-2 min
10. The spaghetti will suck up the gravy so pay attention to step #9. 
11. Lastly garnish with chopped parley and black pepper. 

It is a super fast, easy to prep, cook and clean dish which everyone can try at home especially during weekend when you are lazy to go out. This stir fried spaghetti dish combines the sweetness from the scallop and onion vs. the savoury and smoke flavour from bacon, and yet all bind together with the herbs to create a deep aromatic gravy for the spaghetti that is cooked to perfection. A must try if you are spaghetti-crazed :P

Useful Tips:

1. Experiment the doneness of spaghetti, i find it 10 min in boiling water and another 2 min soak in the gravy is just right for me. (Because 1 min different in water will change the texture, pay attention to this)
2. Unsalted butter helps to bind all flavour further
3. The gravy is just for flavour purpose, so if you think the water added is too much, continue to boil to reduce the liquid
4. Or if you think the water is too litter after step #9, add some spaghetti water (DO NOT add fresh water)

Healthy and Hearty Vegetable Soup

I first know about the ABC Soup was in the 'Cooking Competition' during my secondary school time. It was a really easy and tasty soup, my first impression. One need only not more than 5 ingredients to cook it, so it is always the choice for the competition :P So when im cooking these days, i wanted to enrich its flavour and texture but maintain the main idea: stay healthy and hearty, so i tried to create my own version. 

Vegetable Soup garnished with cream, black pepper and parsley

Traditionally, the ABC Soup is cooked from water, carrot, onion, tomato, some salt and white pepper. On top of these, i added potato, celery, leek and garlic for flavour and 1 handful of rice for texture. The complete ingredients per below:

1. Carrot .......................... 4
2. Onion .......................... 4
3. Potato .......................... 2 Large
4. Tomato ........................ 4
5. Celery ........................   8 sticks
6. Leek ............................ 2 Large sticks
7. Bay leaf ....................... 1
8. Rice ............................. a handful 
9. Water ........................... 2cm above the ingredients in the pot
10. Fresh Cream ................ optional amount to liking 

20-30min of boiling will soften the vegs for easy blending. 

Direction:

Cubed Ingredient #1 - #6 and add them into the pot then add in the water. We do not want to over add the water nor under so, i figured out adding the water to about 2cm above all ingredients are just good. Lit on and add in the bay leaf and rice. The boiling should take about 20-30 minutes depending on the cube size. Take away the bay leaf and start blending with an immersive blender. Until everything have 'disappear', you should end up with a thick soup (because of the rice and potato). At this point, season with salt and freshly grounded black pepper. Add in some fresh cream and it will become another promising flavour. 

Basically you can add in anything into this veggie soup and blend them. If you are on diet, especially for dinner on, you can instead drink this soup because of the starch (potato and some rice), it is actually a good filler. 

Useful Tips:

1. This soup is equally good if serve chilled
2. For silky smooth texture, you can sift the soup before serving
3. Food processor can replace the immersive blender, the idea is just to blend everything together
4. A knob or 2 of unsalted butter will further enhance the flavour

Restaurant Review: Ingolf 's Kneipe

A Real Hidden Gem on Penang Island

The fasade of the Ingolf's Kneipe

Located in Jalan Sungai Kelian, off Jalan Tanjung Bunga (in front of Flamingo Hotel and Paradise Hotel), this Germany themed restaurant has stood in business for as long as i can remember. Perhaps paying a visit will answer why: 

I think it has been at least 5 years since my last visit and in my memory , this Germany establishment serves very tasty food in big portion. So to be frank, i was a bit worry if things turn out sour. This restaurant comprises of seating area in ground floor, mezzanine floor and 1st floor. Upon entering, i felt there is nothing change in the layout. The ground floor is still semi open with a bar always full of guests drinking the fresh draught beer and also chit chatting with friendly bar tender. 

As normal, if you dont have reservation, you will most likely be seated in 1st floor (which does not sell any other beer but only Paulaner (strange reason but they said it is a deal between the 2 entities). So if you want to sit in either mezzanine or ground floor, it is good to ring them for reservation. 

As for the menu, it is consists of 2 parts for food: the standard menu and the special menu. For those adventurous, you can try their special menu. For us, our standards are Chef Julian House Salad, Butcher Platter (for 2 pax). Occasionally we will tried something from the special menu like the Chicken and Pork Duo Chop Special. 

Chef Julian House Salad. Served with assorted breads and salad dressing

From special menu: Duo Chop of Pork and Chicken.

Butcher Platter (meat meat meat): served with crosscut fries, sauerkraut,
brown sauce and assorted breads

Ive been to Germany few times for business trip and i cannot 100% say that it is authentic German food but it still well keep the essences of German Cuisine: meat, sausage, fresh crisps salad, bread and the most important of all, BEER !!!! At least this is from what i experienced. 

So how is rating?  (-1 = no good; 1 = good)

Food Presentation = 0

Taste/Texture = 1

Service = 0

Price/Value = 1

Overal Atmosphere = 0

TOTAL SCORE = 2, WILL GO THERE IF HAPPEN TO BE AROUND THE AREA

THE VERDICT: Forget about the 'real' authentic German cuisine but be indulged and be spoiled in the fresh beer, super awesome salad and of cause the great array of meat dishes that Ingolf offers. I particularly like they actually put attention to the salad as most of the main side. It really is packed with a lot of veggie which not many eatery offers. A small detail makes a long way :P

Useful Info:

1) Make Reservation if you want to seat in ground floor / mezzanine floor

2) Chef Julian House Salad is a MUST try

3) Draught beers are fresh at reasonable price.  

Other pictures:

First floor seating area

Ground floor seating area

Juicy and Tender Chicken Breast - 100% Guaranteed !!!

Large chicken breasts in brine solution ready to go into fridge.

Breasts on hot grill pan, turn 90 degree to get the beautiful char mark

Probably the most protein packed pcs of meat in chicken, the breast is often found chewy and dry especially after grilled. Naturally this is a lean meat full of protein fiber and the moisture is lost during the cooking time thus many do not like it but prefer the drumstick. There is a method to solve this problem scientifically in the kitchen and the result is 100% guaranteed juicy and tender chicken breast like you never eat before !!!!  The answer is brining. 

Overview

The basic brine solution is add 10% salt into water enough to cover the breast and leave it covered in the fridge overnight (8hr minimum). And then take it out rest to room temperature before start grilling. The science behind is simple: OSMOSIS, particle of higher concentration will move through a membrane to lower concentration. That says the salted water (higher concentration in salt) will 'move' into the cell of the meat making them full of water. So when you grill, there will be sufficient water inside the meat to compensate the lost. So you will end up with juicy, succulent and tender pcs of chicken breast.    

How to brine?

1. First determine the amount of meat you want cook.
2. Prep a container (prefer with lid) which can store a water that is enough to complete submerge the meat
3. Add in salt (5-10% of water by weight) and wait until fully disolve
4. While waiting, clean and cut a way any fat/skin/membrane on the chicken breast
5. Meat into the salt brine (make sure the brine is at room temperature, you dont want to cook the chicken at this point) and put into fridge with lid on (prevent odour escape)
6. After 8-12 hrs,  drain water and let the meat warm up back to room temperature. 

Variations

Because the principle is to add in the brine solution into the meat so actually we can perform 'add in' more than water but FLAVOUR too !!!   Infuse the brine solution with herbs like thymes, pepper corn, coriander seeds or veg with strong aroma like garlic onion or even honey, maple syrup which will add a distinctive character to the meat you are creating. The combinations are endless but maybe you can try out my Sweet and Savoury Chicken Breast Brine below next time when you wanna eat some protein pack meat:

For 4pcs of large size chicken Breast (1" thick)

• 1/2 tea spoon of nutmeg powder
• 1/2 tea spoon of mustard powder
• 6 cloves of peeled garlic
• 2 roughly chopped sweet onion
• 3 table spoon of salt
• 3 table spoon of brown sugar
• 1 table spoon of grounded black pepper
• 1 table spoon of dried thymes
• 1 bay leaf
• half cup of honey (optional)
• 1 liter of water

Direction: Roughly chop the onion and garlic then add everything into a small pot bring to boil for 5 minutes to infuse all flavours into the water and then soak in the chicken breast after the water came to room temperature. Leave in the fridge for 8-12hrs and then take out the meat and let them warm up to room temperature. Grill 3-4 min each side (breast thickness 1"). I find it is good when the internal temperature reach 65 degree Celsius. And DONE the super duper easy grill chicken breast.  

Useful Tips

1) Boil all ingredients ONLY with just enough water and then add in the remaining to shorten the cool down period. 

2) Close lid while put in the fridge: prevent odour to spread all over 

3) Discard the brine solution, all flavours have been 'brined' into the meats. 

5 Ways to Eat Healthy

We all want to stay healthy but do we actually act for it? Increasingly, it is undeniable that one of the key factory to stay healthy is to eat healthy. There are a lot of misperceptions of healthy eating, i.e. this beverage is low in sugar because i don't feel it it sweet, Im a vegan because it is healthier than eating meat ...etc.  Well, I can tell you above is not 100% correct, read the 5 ways from below to find out why and how can we eat healthier. 

1. No Processed Food/Beverages

Nuggets, sausages, meat balls, fish cakes, carbonated drinks, concentrated juice...  these are all foods that you can see in the supermarket. Why they are there? Because it is 'cheap, easy and tasty'. Im not saying whatever listed above are 100% processed but if you see a sausage has no flaky fiber (cooked meat) in it, then it is almost certain that it is processed food. So why no process food? Because you are not eating/drinking what you paid for. Example: concentrated juice, it is all nothing but approved artificial colourant, juicy flavour and preservative. Well maybe few drops of real juicy (so that they can claim in the packaging "contain real fruit juice"). And these chemicals are all unnecessary by our body and in fact, no good to it, so why we want to buy them when we have choice?

2. Read the Label

We all have taste memory in our mind. Each time we eat, unconsciously we store the taste into our mind. So when we describe something is sweet or not, we will just compare it with the taste memory. That is not very correct and scientific because it is just mere descriptive words. When we buy from supermarket, almost all packaged foods/beverages are labeled. There are possibilities that a beverage contains 11g sugar per 100ml taste less sweet compare to another with just 6g per 100ml. So always read the labels to understand what you are actually buying.  Also in the ingredient list, if you see a lot of component with chemical names, don't buy it. Never buy those with the ingredients that you don't know. 

3. Eat Whole Food

Whole food means it is unprocessed and or maybe processed as little as possible. A very simple way to distinguish the difference between processed and whole food is by the look: If you can't tell what it is on your plate, don't eat it. A chicken nugget should be made of chicken meat not mixture of carcass, skins, flour and other disgusting stuffs. A fruit juice should be just juice as main contain. Whole food is all natural food and not only it means no added chemicals but also it means no harm to our body. 

4. A Balanced Diet

There are 6 major classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, minerals, protein, vitamins, fibers, and water. A balanced diet means you eat all 6 classes in a proportional way. A very simple guide is using the Food Pyramids, i.e. you should more vegetables than meat...etc. But most people think that by eating only vegetable, they will be healthier. Put a side the cooking method, as mentioned, a healthy diet it's a balanced diet. By eating only vegetables, one actually restricts themselves by taking in only certain classes of nutrients and ignore others hence not a balanced diet. Example: Proteins (amino acids) are the building blocks of our body, especially muscle and other body tissues and it is mainly come from meat/poultry, eggs and dairy. Although certain type of vegetable do contains protein like Tofu (soybean product) but its only contains 2.3g of protein every 1 oz. While there are 10g of protein in every 1oz of chicken breast. 

5. Homemade Meals

This is kind of like summary of all above points: We are in control of what to put into our body. It is sort of an ultimate way to ensure the food are at the healthiest level as it can be because and most importantly, we have the option to choose what to be added and what not. And by that way, we can be worry free from preservative, colourant, flavouring and other nasty chemicals. 

Having said all above, maybe one might claims that it is difficult to avoid processed foods and to cook at home in modern life. What i want to share lastly in this post is a classic phrase by a French physiologist in 1826: "Tell me what you eat and i will tell you what you are". 

Homemade Pasta with Mince Pork, Onion, Carrot and Tomato Topping

My very first pasta dish :)

I was actually intended to cook the classic Bolognese sauce for my first ever home made pasta (find out how to make Super Easy Homemade Pasta, click here) but soon after i think it should be my own style of pasta topping to commemorate my very first experience. Because i'm actually preparing this dish for a dinner with my nieces and nephews, so i think it should be something sweet and sour. I know the kids will love this contrasting flavour :)

And so i started to draw out the ingredient list and the cooking procedure in mind. Below are the ingredients (4 pax):

1. Sweet Onion (white colour) .............. 4, cut into 1cm dice
2. Carrot ................................................ 1, Julianne  about an inch long
3. Tomato .............................................. 4, cut into 1cm cube
4. Garlic ...............................................  8 cloves, roughly chopped
5. Minced Lean Pork ............................ 400 g
6. Water ................................................ 400 ml
7. Oil, preferred plant base..................... ??
8. Bay leaf ............................................. 1
9. Dried Rosemary ................................ 1 teaspoon
10. Dried Thymes ................................... 1 teaspoon
11. Parsley ............................................... liking amount, chopped 
12. Seasoning (salt and pepper) ............... liking amount
13. Brown Sugar ..................................... just a pinch 

Prep Time: 15 min, Cook Time 15 min. 

Steps:

1. Drizzle enough amount of oil into a hot sauce pan 
2. Sautee sweet onion until slightly brown (that's when you smell the aroma)
3. Add in the chopped garlic and turn around to mix well 
4. Toss in the minced lean pork and continue sautee. You will want to squash the pork during the sautee so it wont end up in big lump (look ugly)
5. Until lightly brown add in the carrot and stir fry for another 2-3 min
6. Add in the cubed tomato and herbs then add in the water. 
7. Bring to gentle shimmer for 10 min (for all flavours to marry each other)
8. Lastly season with salt, brown sugar and freshly ground black pepper. 

I like to cook pasta and the topping sauce side by side so that i can end up with freshly cooked food to serve those i care. With the pasta cooked on 1 stove, just bring them onto a plate and top it with the sauce. Finally garnish with the chopped parsley. I'd say this is a very appetizing pasta dish because of the topping are made from the sourish tomato and sweet base carrot and onion. And to make it sparks, herbs are added too to increase the depth of the flavours. Not to forget the minced pork to make it a really hearty topping :P   The kids like it very much and so do i  <3