delicious food at Al Diafah

After a great LSD run of approx. 26km with friends last Sunday, wifey suggested that I should replenish the 1800 kilocalories lost with authentic middle-eastern food :) We didn’t have to look that far for good food around our place – Al Diafah is a must for those who enjoy the middle-eastern cuisine. We totally love this place and the food is excellent.

So guys, do make a point to visit Al Diafah for authetic middle-eastern food.

Buah Melaka

Do you know how easy it is to make Buah Melaka? This is the very first dessert that I prepared for the family, probably at 9 years old. Now, the tradition continues when my 9-year old nephew and his sister took the effort to prepare the buah melaka for us to break fast last weekend. Here’s how it is made -

The dough:

• Glutinous Flour
• Water

Mix well water and flour until it gives a rather gluey texture (shouldn’t stick to your hand). Add colouring (we used the juice of pandan leaves to give a deep green colour) to the dough.

Then, I came up with a crazy idea to do the blue version of Buah Melaka. Actually my plan is to have the red and yellow ones as well – I wanted to make a Malaysia flag out of this , until my sister found out about my ‘evil’ intention and called it off. Shucks!. Well, at least we got the blue ones working!!!

Shish, only if we could make the red and the yellow ones ……. nevertheless, we had a great time

Confession of a Carbo-Loader

I love to eat, and I eat alot. My love for food even made me a certified Fitness Chef now, running Fitness Kitchen, the F&B arm of Corporate Athletes ….. definitely something that I never dream off. 

And one of things why I love to sign-up for endurance races  and competitions is because I can eat without guilt, carbo-load so to speak. Since I would be running in the Seremban Half Marathon on Sunday (yesterday), I prepared something ‘ big’ and ’sinful’ on Saturday – Sticky Rice with  Coconut Milk & Durian.  I ate that for Lunch and Supper on Saturday.

The Result : Too carbo-loaded, I woke up late for my Seremban Half Run, and drove like crazy, only to realise that I didn’t pack my running shoes (plus I don’t even have safety pins for my bib). So, I came back home medal-less, shoe-less and sweat-less, all because I am careless.

The Damage : More than 2000 calories stocked up as surplus, waiting to be utilised (if not, it will be more than happy to be stored as fat).

The Blame : Definitely goes to this culprit …

Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk and Durian

Ingredients:

• Beras Pulut (sticky rice)
• Water (to cook the rice)
• Durian (153 calories per 100g)
• Fresh Coccnut Milk ( 1 cup canned coconut milk contains 445 calories, whereas fresh coconut milk contains the maximum number of calories, approx. 552)
• salt & sugar

Preparation 

• Cook Beras Pulut on stove, by adding enough water and a pinch of salt and sugar(steam it for better texture) 
• Once pulut is about done, add some cocunut milk to give a more ‘fatty’ flavour (I can’t believe I’m writing this thing up…). Give it a good mix until cooked.
• The rest is history …. …. enjoy the pics.

enough said!

Honey Cinnamon Tea

A client of mine, Yanie, has been drinking this tea every morning. She uses only two ingredients; cinnamon and honey. Frankly, I don’t have a single doubt on this simply perfect combination. If fact, these are the main ingredients that they put on BeaverTails’ fried pastry, truly my fav. Canadian snack.

 

Well, here how Yanie does it.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoonful of cinnamon powder 
• 2-3 tablespoonful of Wild Honey
• Lemon (additional – my own variation)

Preparation:

Add the powdered cinnamon into a mug of boiled water, let it soaked for few minutes before adding 2-3 tablespoonful of wild honey. As for me, I will add some juice from lemon to give a zesty flavour to the tea.

Health Benefits:

Cinnamon – it is used for colds, flatulence (senak perut), nausea, diarrhea, and painful menstrual periods. It’s also believed to improve energy, vitality and circulation, and be particularly useful for people who tend to feel hot in their upper body but have cold feet.

Honey – Bountiful! It provides strength and energy to our bodies, & known for its effectiveness in instantly boosting the performance, endurance and reducing muscle fatigue in athletes. It is also a powerful immune system booster & good for sore throats and sleeplessness.

Lemon - it strengthens the immune system and acts as blood purifier, while improving the body’s ability to get rid of toxins.

There you go – enjoy a mug of this Honey Cinnamon Tea today! Just imagine if you have the pastry from BeaverTrails to complement it – life can never be this good ..ahaks….there used to be a BeaverTails kiosk at Midvalley, but I think it was closed down due to lack of customers. Gosh, only if they get the chance to try it.

and Yanie, thank you so much for the recipe!  

p/s - Yanie is one of our clients who took up  Personal Health Lifestyle Program. Now, Yanie cooks her own food and stocks-up her fridge with loads of fresh & healthy stuff – vegetables, fruits & lean meats to name afew. Extremely proud of her. Way to go Yanie !!!

Sweet & Sour Crab

My maid cooks mostly at home. By the time wifey & I reach home, maid would have laid out at least 4 dishes already on our dining table. Although she’s a good cook, but her dishes selection sometimes can be quite ‘monotonic’. So, I made a point to cook something different yesterday – sweet & sour crab.

  

Ingredients:

Crabs - abt. 4 medium-sized …. I used Flower Crab

Garlic (chopped finely) - loads of it

Shallots (chopped finely) – again, loads of it (this is a natural sweetener … once it’s been caramelised)

Tomato Ketchup – (yaa I know, it’s unhealthy - but I don’t have time y’know … again, limit to 2 tablespoonful* only …. if you want a healthier version, try using Tomato Paste & Honey)

Soy sauce & White Pepper

1 egg

Water

Olive OIl

* this is the limit that Fitness Chefs use for gravy or sauce. 

Preparation

Simmer (with a quarter cup of water) the crabs (break into smaller pieces) on pan. On another pan (saucepan is perfect), heat 2 tablespoon of OO and throw in the shallots and garlic. Once golden brown, add about 2 cups of water, half a spoonful of soysauce & white pepper. Add these ingredients to the simmered crabs. Cook thoroughly. Break the egg and mix well with the gravy (this will thicken up the gravy … a definitely better option than  cornstarch). Voila. Ready in less than 10 minutes.

Star Bit Juice

This is my mom’s favorite, and soon to be ours too …. this was what she prepared for us last week. I named it Star Bit Juice.

Ingredients :

1 cup of Beetroot (in chunks)

1 cup of Starfruit (in chunks)

1/2 cup of Nam Nam (also in chunks)

Honey

Preparation :

Blend all the fruit chunks, with enough water in a blender. Add enough honey for your sweet-tooth. Sieve the mixture. Add some ice cubes. Voila! 

Benefits :

Beetroot – purifies the blood, anti-carcinogenic properties, re-generate immune cells, rich in Vit. C etc.

Starfruit – potent anti-oxidant & fights cardiovascular inflammation

Nam Nam – reduces internal body heat

Honey – tonnes of benefits ……

We have continuous supply of Starfruits and Nam Nam from trees planted at parents’ house. That explains why chilled Strafruit juices are always free-flowing at their house. I bet if there was enough Beetroot supply, the Star Bit Juice will be on their daily menu as well (better scout ard for beetroot plants now).

Those who do not know what Nam Nam fruit is, here’s the pic (also known as Puru fruit in some states, owing to its aweful-looking rind which looks like katak puru/kodok…).