CoCo's Aglio Olio

This recipe is tried and tested and is currently Cobby's favourite. He claims it's restaurant standard, but the best thing is... it is SO easy to make!


The key is the ingredients so try to get them in the supermarket. Especially the anchovies!



For 2 people, you need:
A handful of spaghetti (about the circumference of a slightly bigger 50cent coin)
3 slices of bacon – cut into small piecesAny type of meat – can prawn or chicken. Or just have it by itself.
3 pieces of anchovies
4 cloves of garlic - chopped (if you are not a garlic fan, you can use less)
1 capsicum – chopped
1 tomato – remove the seeds and chopped
2 small onions – chopped
3 chilli padis – cut into big pieces


1. Add some salt and oil into a pot of water and prepare your ingredients while waiting for it to boil.

2. Put in the spaghetti only when the water boils.

3. Fry the bacon in the pan with some oil. The oil would crisp the bacon faster.

4. When the bacon is just slightly brown, put in all the vegetables and the anchovies.

5. Add a pinch of salt to sweat the onions

6. If you want to add any meat or seafood, now is the time. Stir fry it till it is cooked. The stir fry should be quite moist and oily now.

7. The noodles should be ready now – try eating a strand of the pasta to make sure that it is the right consistency for you. When you are satisfied, drain the noodles and pour it into the pan.

8. Stir fry! Main objective is to coat the pasta with all the ingredients, sauce, oil, everything! Add in another pinch of salt and stir again till it’s incorporated.

9. Always remember to taste your food! If it is bland add more salt. The anchovies and salt should be enough for taste, but generally pasta is very bland and we did not marinate the meat/seafood. So flavour according to your liking.

10. Serve!


Bon Appetite!

Go Halal...

I'm always at a lost when asked to suggest dining places that is Halal-Certified.

So when I saw this article on the Straits Times Classifieds today, I thought it would be good to note down somewhere for easy reference in fututre.

It's a special focus on a few Halal-certified restaurants. I've never been to any of them, so if you have any comments on the below restaurants, do drop me a comment! Thanks


Barbeque Steamboat

Han River Table Barbeque
#04-15
Eastpoint Mall
6789 9555
11.30am – 11.30pm

East Javanese cuisine

Pondok Jawa Timur
#02-66/67
Far East Plaza
6999 8785

The Atrium @ Orchard,
#01-16
60B Orchard Road, (next to Plaza Singapura)
6884 5853
www.pondokjawatimur.com

Indian Muslim Food

Lucky Prata
Lucky Plaza
#01-42/43/44
304 Orchard Road
6235 5223
8.00am – 8.00pm

Japanese

Ramen Ten
Far East Plaza #01-22 - 6238 7983
Jubilee Ang Mo Kio #01-06/07 - 6552 7328
Harbourfront #02-03/04 - 6376 4151
Century Square #01-37 - 6789 7566

Satay

Satay Power
6, 13 & 14
Lau Pat Sat Market,
18 Raffles Quay
Ibrahim – 9746 7841

CoCo's Easy Peasy Beef Stew

I love this dish! You just pop everything into the pot, switch on the timer, and walk away! The end result was so impressive, yet it didn’t even take much effort from the cook. Hahaha, cheers.






Main ingredient
Beef (Shin) 300 grams
Carrot 1 large stick, chopped
Radish Half a stick, chopped


Spices & Flavoring (A)
Black peppercorn cracked slightly with the flat of your knife
ClovesStar anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp Five spice powder
6 slices of ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1tsp sugar
Sesame oil


Additional Flavoring
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tsp of cornstarch + water


1. Briefly boil the beef in water for a minute and drain.

2. Pour fresh water into the pot of beef so that the water covers the meat with an addition of another 1 inch of water on top.

3. Add in everything in Spices & Flavoring (A) and boil in high heat for ½ hour

4. Lower the fire and simmer for another ½ hour

5. Add your carrots and radish and continue to simmer until it turns soft. (estimated – 20mins) Add water if necessary.

6. Stuff to be added when carrots and radish has turned soft:

a. Oyster sauce for a more intense flavor
b. Dark soya sauce for that rich brown colour
c. Cornstarch mixed with water to thicken the gravy

7. Serve with steamy fluffy rice and serve! Enjoy...

Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

The beautiful thing about Singapore is that you don't have to travel the world to enjoy authentic cuisines from the other side of the globe.



Hop down to Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant at Vivo City to satisfy your German cuisine cravings. I loved the cosy yet stylish deco and also the outdoor seating with a fantastic view of Sentosa.




Their draft beer is pretty good but what I really like was the range of German beers that you can’t find elsewhere.



The food is great too! We shared a pork knuckle accompanied by a spicy galosh and we absolutely loved it!

The pork knuckle flesh was moist and tender with an unbelievably crispy skin. A cardiologist's nightmare! Most brauhaus would pour the gravy over the knuckle and serve, but at Brotzeit, they serve it in a gravy boat at the side. So you can decide how wet you like your knuckle.

The spicy galosh is a dream... It's a German cabbage beef stew (i think haha). The soup is so rich and flavourful, it was wonderful to the last drop.



It’s definitely a great place for anyone who loves good quality beer with good hearty food. Good food, good beer, great view and even greater company. This place is a fantastic place for friends, colleagues and even families to hang out at the end of the day. Seating is definitely a problem with it's popularity, so go early or call to reserve seats to avoid dissappointments..



Address
#01-149-151,
1 HarbourFront Centre Walk,
VivoCitySingapore 098585


Reservations : 62728815

Opening Hours
Sunday to Thursday: 12.00pm to 12.00am
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays: 12.00pm to 1.00am


Website Link

CoCo's Stone Soup

CoCo’s Stone Soup (Serves 2-3 persons)

2 potatoes – skin and cut into small chunks
2 carrots – skin and cut into small chunks
2 medium onions – skin and quarter it
1 tomato – quarter it

1 chicken back bone
1 chicken boneless thigh meat

1. Boil your chicken bone in half a pot of water for about 15mins. It can be chicken bone or pork bone. **
2. Put in the potatoes and carrots and boil until it turns slightly soft
3. When the hard vegetables have turned slightly soft, add in your tomato, onion and chicken thigh meat.
4. Add a pinch of salt and continue boiling till the meat is cooked.
5. When the meat is cooked (5-10mins), remove the meat and chop it up. I fried up some cabbage earlier while the soup is boiling, so I just place the chicken on top of the cabbage and serve.
6. Remove the chicken bone from the soup
7. Taste the soup and flavour accordingly and only if necessary.
8. Serve with rice and cut chilli padi.

** Boiling bones add much more flavour to the soup, which means less salt is needed when flavouring. Boiling the bones instead of the meat would also mean more tender meat.

Why is it called stone soup? There's actually a story behind it. See it here. But mine stone soup has less ingredients... :)

Delhi Restaurant

Have you ever had North Indian Cuisine? I didn't. Cobby was inspired by the M1 commercial “Eh… Mumbai dah! India…!” and asked his friend (Jason) for recommendation on Indian cuisine.

The restaurant is located just next to Banana Leaf Apolo at Race Course Road. No wonder we never saw it. It’s kindda overshadowed by it’s big and fancy neighbour. At first glance I wonder if they are even open as the interior looks pretty dark. But step inside and you have a nice and cosy little restaurant filled with wonderful aromas.

I’m new to this so I let Cobby take the reins. We ordered a Malai Kebabs, one medium Sizzler and one Fish Briyani. We had lime juice to go with the food.

I would definitely recommend North Indian cuisine to people who can’t take too spicy food and yet wanted some variety in their meals.

We started eating even before the food came! The Papadums were so delicious! It’s served with some unknown green dip with a minty, citrus fragrance. There’s also a plate of pickled onions. Yum! We finished the whole basket…

Yummy papadums

The Malai Kebab is like a skewered BBQ chicken. You squeeze some lime juice over eat before you eat it. It’s delicious! Tender and juicy meat with a nice smoky bbq fragrant and just a hint of spice.

Malai Kebabs

The Sizzler (Medium sized) is a real crowd pleaser. It has mutton, chicken and fish served on a hot plate. When they serve, the waiter would pour a shot of liquor over the dish and light it up. Voom! Both of us go “Wah…” Even the people at the next table went “wah….” Very tasty the meat! Very marinated and flavourful. But the serving is abit big for the both of us.

Half size Sizzler

The fish briyani is abit of a let down. The rice is a little too soft and the curry is a little too sweet for my taste.

Heavy Lunch...

But two out of three is good enough to get a thumbs up from Miss CoCo! So I will definitely go back again. Probably would try something different next time.

So until then, here are the store’s details.

Delhi Restaurant
No. 60 Race Course Road
Singapore 218567
Tel: 6296 4585
Fax: 6297 5715

Malai Kebabs - $9.00
Sizzler (Half) - $15.00
Fish Briyani - $11.00
Lime Juice - $2.50
Papadums - $1.00After less 15% for UOB credit card - $41.62

Lau Ka Ki Nasi Lemak

If you refer to my previous entry on the Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup (a.k.a. Bak Ku Teh), you will find another fabulous store at the same location. Lau Ka Ki Nasi Lemak.

To most locals, Nasi Lemak is a pretty common meal. What's so unusual about this store that would make Miss CoCo put this up in her blog you say? Well, all I can say is, if you are someone who loves hot and piping, freshly cooked meals, you'll love this store.

Usually what you see at nasi lemak stores are a whole shelf of pre-cooked items which you pick to go with your rice. I can recommend some really kick-ass fantastic stores another time, but usually they are not HOT you know what I mean...

This store is different. Located at #01-12, block 120, Bukit Merah Lane 1, there's only ONE man handling the whole store. But this one man takes your order, then like clockwork, prepares every side dish only at you order. Queue? Definitely. All good food comes with a line of devotees... But surprisingly it does not take too long; probably it was after much trial and error that made his system so smooth...

Oh yah and do take note that the boss is a very contented man. By 2pm all the food and rice would have been sold out, so try to get there early.

Ok back to the food. The chicken drumstick - freshly fried from the wok, HOT and crispy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside... The luncheon meat, like the drumstick, HOT and crispy on the outside, oh so good when you sink you teeth in them. The freshly fried sunny side up egg, with the white crispy and fluffy, but the yoke still runny so that you can mix it with your hot rice, ikan bilis and chilli paste and scoop the whole spoonful into your mouth!!!

Now for the critic part.

Strictly speaking, Lau Ka Ki does not have the best nasi lemak. Like I said before, I've had better in terms of taste. But I have also tasted many worse. So the thing that really impressed me and made me go back is the freshness and how the boss is willing to go the extra mile to serve fresh and hot food to his customers. Not alot of stores are willing to do that nowadays, so this I gotta give it to him.

Ok I admit, I am a sucker for piping hot food. From where I grew up, wholesome comfort food is all about freshly cooked food and eating it while it's hot. So this shop I adore and I recommend.

Burp...
(disclaimer - The left over rice was a my sad dieting attempt, nothing to do with the yummy rice hor)

Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup

If you are near the Alexandra Village food centre during weekday, I would highly recommend a food stall that should not be given a miss!!!

On top of the list is Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup (or known locally as Bak Ku Teh). I personally rank it as Miss CoCo's Top Choice for Bak Ku Teh. Located at #01-18, block 120, Bukit Merah Lane 1, this stall's opening hours is most difficult to grasp. But when it does open, you'll see that almost every table patronise the stall.



The Bak Ku Teh soup is served in clay pots, which means that soups stay warm longer. Every piece of meat is head spinning-ly tender and the flavour in the soup is so good, you want to drink up every last drop of it. But be warned ~ the soup is herbal in nature. I totally love how it makes the soup taste but I do know that some people just don't like herbal stuff. My advise is, try it anyway. Hey who knows, maybe your taste buds would make an exception for a good bowl of bak ku teh?

Don't forget to order their side dish of chai buei, which is the preserved vegetable. Honestly, I have tasted better chai buei. So it may not be the best, (that I would tell you where another time) but at least it is not horrible tasting. A bak ku teh meal would not be complete with your hot soup, your steaming bowl of rice and a little plate of chai buei. So... very important; must order.

My only complain for my favourite stall is the blatant lack of chilli padi to dip my yummy, tender, pork rib! Argh... Big chillis are tasteless one ok...

But even without the chilli padi, Cobby and I still enjoy our occasional meals at our favourite stall. So far we have not found any stall that serves a more flavourful soup, or meat so tender. So little obstacles like chilli padi would never deter us from going back again and again! Haha...

Ah Mei Cafe

Ah I love the weekends. Sleeping late, walking around the house in T-Shirt, shorts and my kitty cat bedroom slippers, no makeup, best of all, weekend breakfast.



The lazy gene in Cobby and I rejoiced when we found this prata place so near our home.
Great food in close proximity! Yeah!



This place, Ah Mei Cafe belongs to the food court chain Banquet. It's a tiny little outlet with only one Indian cook making the prata and two other aunties taking care of the orders.



I was skeptical at first, we stumbled upon the shop by chance and due to the lack of other choices, so we gave it a try. I'm pretty picky when it comes to my roti prata. A good prata meal should consist of both good prata and good quality curry sauce. So far I know of some good places that have EITHER good prata OR good curry.






Surprise surprise! Not only does this little joint have hot, crispy and fluffy prata, but also fantastic curry!



Generally, stalls serve prata with thick chicken curry unless you specially ask for fish curry. At Ah Mei's, they only serve fish curry. The curry is delightfully tasty without being too thick or heavy, so you can happily dunk the whole prata into the curry and not feel bloated after the meal.



In fact, this morning I saw this couple pour the whole plate of curry onto their pratas and let it soak in all the goodness! (hmm maybe I should try that next time)



I always polish off the whole plate of curry sauce when I have prata at Ah Mei's. Haha...



I'm a traditionalist, so I usually have one kosong (plain) and one either with egg or egg and onion. Top it up with a giant steaming cuppa coffee with your morning newspapers. Ahh... Now that's life.

Ah Mei Cafe

Sun Plaza Shopping Center

30 Sembawang Drive
#01-39 Sun Plaza

Singapore 757713