Recipe: Daging Masak Hitam (Beef in Black Sauce)

Generally, I don't cook beef much as it's pricey, and most Malaysian recipes require at least 1 kg of fresh beef block. My parents are most gracious to give us beef and bones (especially for Imaan to place in her porridge), so I have a little stock of it at home.

I came home without defrosting anything or buying anything from the market, so I was glad to have some frozen beef. The fastest way to thaw beef is by placing it in a plastic bag and leaving it in a small container of running water.

This recipe was taken and adapted from the awesome Azie Kitchen. Azie calls it Daging Masak Hitam but some may call it Daging Masak Kicap. I have digressed. Try this simple recipe, it's quite easy to make!

Click the 'Read More' link below to view the full recipe!

Palembang Day 1: Pempek & Patin

We recently went to Palembang to visit my brother's in-laws, Pak Hatim and his wife.

Palembang, honestly, is one of those cities that you go to just to eat.

It's also best if you could hire your own driver, which was graciously provided to us by Pak Hatim, during our visit there.

Upon landing, the driver, Pak Feri, picked us up from the airport and took us straight to Pak Hatim's house. It's a nice house nestled in the busy hustle and bustle of the city. We were served Pempek, one of the iconic and signature food. It's essentially varieties of fishcake, made from fish paste and tapioca. Pempek is usually served with kuah cuka. It is served grilled, steamed or fried. 

I love the courtyard; there are some singing birds who respond to you when you whistle to them.

Very gladiator-like decor in the courtyard!

Lunch was served; Ikan Patin, otherwise known as Silver Catfish was served three ways;

• Pindang (which was some lemongrass, red onions, chilli, tomatoes, galangal, pineapple and some other ingredients I can't remember);
• Tempoyak (fermented durian)
• Asam pedas (sour spicy)

If you've never tasted Ikan Patin, you should try and taste the wild/ River Ikan Patin. It tastes very fresh, but it has a slight muddy taste to it.

There were also king prawns, which I was too lazy to peel.

I loved the Ayam Kampung masak Kicap - organic chicken cooked in a sweet, soya broth. I also loved the Sambal Tempe (fermented soybeans in spicy sambal sauce).

My parents (my mom in leopard; my dad in black), and Pak Hatim and wife before the meal!

It was such warm hospitality, we couldn't thank them enough, especially after such a big feast. You can imagine, after the meal, we were very full and proceeded to head to the hotel. We stayed at Emilia Hotel by Amazing, located right next to Palembang Indah Mall.

48. getaway to melaka: part 2 (jonker street + klebang coconut shake + hard rock cafe, melaka)

After eating the Ee Ji Ban chicken rice balls (hehe I love saying that, ee ji ban) we proceeded to head to the touristy side of Melaka town. Our first spot was to Jonker Street/Walk/whichever, an entire street devoted to souvenirs, cheap fruity soda, durian cream puffs and oriental trinkets. Some of the cool things we saw:

 

These pictures were taken from inside the car ngeh ngeh. This gwailo was standing on the side of the street, frowning at every car and just admiring the back-to-back traffic in front of her. 

We went into a Jonker Heritage World Heritage Park, dedicated to Datuk Wira Dr. Gan Boon Leong. In the year 2000, he was appointed to head a committee that aimed to bring life to the place, and expand it as a marketplace for local businesses. In 2008, UNESCO listed Jonker Walk as part of its World Heritage Site. It's now a very popular place for tourists and locals alike, especially during night time. 

We had some gorgeous durian cream puffs, Portuguese egg tarts, and durian ice cream in Jonker Street. On hindsight, we should have bought more, and I should have taken more photos. Oh well. I was too busy sweating and gobbling everything =.= On the way back to our car, we passed by the canal, and imagine what I saw. My eyes literally lit up.

YEAP Hard Rock Cafe in Melaka! How long has that been there? I  bought the magnet (I'm trying to collect the Hard Rock magnets) and forced him to take a photo.

Me: Make sure it's head to toe cause the last picture you took was just my torso and head.

Him: *grunts and clicks*

Me: You sure it's head to toe?

Him: *grunts*

When I checked it later, I saw that he took like 10 inches of the black wall below me and half of the guitar neck was not included, owwhh~~

On the drive back home, I asked him to pass by Klebang for the famous Klebang Coconut Shake. We were stuck in traffic for a good 20 minutes just trying to park the car, and queued for 45 minutes in the hot sun trying to get the shake. It was like 3 plus in the afternoon. Man, Malaysians really love their food. 

 

I suppose it was quite worth the wait. Even though it's just bits of fresh coconut with ice cream and what I presume to be a bit of fresh cream or milk. The main thing was that it was cheap. Like RM 2.50 per drink. Oh BTW, you can either queue up to tapau (takeaway) or sit and drink on the spot. You can't have it both ways.

The address and info pooled from other blogs:

Famous Coconut Shake Klebang

(Landmark: Caltex petrol station)

Business hours : 12.30pm-6.30pm daily

Friday: 2pm-6.30pm

Tel: +6 013-399 4061

Here's some other blogs on the Klebang Original Coconut Shake:

• http://sixthseal.com/2012/12/klebang-original-coconut-shake/
• http://wonderfulretreats.blogspot.com/2013/01/famous-coconut-shake-klebang-melaka.html
• http://j-travel.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-famous-coconut-shake-at-klebang.html

Overall, Melaka provided us a sufficiently fun, day trip. It's full of food and walking around, if you're into that sort of thing :) Just remember that if you see it and like it, try it. Else you might be full of remorse like *some* people who thought they should have bought more durian cream puffs on the road back home. 

All photos are shot with Sony Xperia Z.

47. getaway to melaka: part 1 (chicken rice balls)

I'm the sort of person who loves to travel. And adventure. I love spontaneous getaways, be it a day, a few hours, or a week. We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny Sunday, so we seized the day to visit my hometown and got up to all kinds of shenanigans.

After visiting my family's side, we headed to town and sought chicken rice balls. This was the first time I was having it, and originally we intended to head to Jonker Walk for the meal, but along the way we saw a blue signboard which intrigued us and lead us to..

EE JI BAN CHICKEN RICE BALL!

There was many people there, and the shop was sheltered from the sweltering midday heat with tarpaulin that showcased the media coverage the shop had received. I was super excited, and believed that it would be an amazeballs experience.

 

After waiting a bit, we were finally seated and served by a cute little boy who took our orders with an iPhone. Our choice, was of course, the rice balls (hehehe, RM 0.30 each), and chicken (RM 4.00 per portion). We added the nyonya cili garam sotong + prawn, for RM 18.00 for a small portion (you can choose to add petai for an additional RM 4, but they ran out of petai).

So we waited... and waited... quite a bit actually. I think we waited for 40 minutes. And after drooling so long, the food finally arrived:

 

No picture of chicken. Forgot to take the picture of the chicken cause we were too hungry. 

Overall? TBH I was quite disappointed :( The rice could have tasted better if it was served piping hot, but after waiting 40 minutes, the rice was barely lukewarm. The portion for two people was very disappointing to say the least. The chicken was alright (we got half steamed, half roasted). However, the nyonya sotong and prawn was very delicious! But not as spicy as I thought it would be. And the portion was ridiculously small for the price. Behhh.

I'd go there again for the sotong. And not on a weekend. The table behind us ordered before we arrived, and by the time we were leaving they still didn't receive their food :( 

Rating? 6/10

Ee Ji Ban Chicken Rice Ball

275, Jalan Melaka Raya 3,

Taman Melaka Raya,

75000 Melaka

H/P: 0163665220 / 0162165220

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/EeJiBan-Chicken-Rice-Ball-Halal/94461985851 

*Stay tuned for more Melaka updates :)