【黑椒鸡扒】Chicken Chop with Black Pepper Sauce ala Malaysian Style

宝宝不晓得是不是正值猛长期，这几天每晚都夜奶无数，而且每次都要吸好久。无奈的妈妈只好边夜奶边拿着手机阅读。也就是这阵子开始读了几个菲律宾的美食博客。看着看着我就开始想念东南亚的美食了。奇怪的是，一直萦绕我脑海不去的却是这款鸡扒。

这道美食在马来西亚是有名的“西餐”。西餐厅里，咖啡馆里，甚至小贩中心里的西餐摊子都可以看见它的踪影。是各个民族非常喜欢的一道美食。出国这么多年，却从来没有在美国或欧洲的餐厅里看见过一样的做法。想想应该是一款被本土化了的西餐了。

想念那个诱人的味道，我忍不住今天就做了这个鸡扒。NS非常欣赏，下午给做了4 oz的还吃不够，晚餐又让做了两块 4 oz的才过了瘾。吃完还问以后可以经常做这个鸡扒吗？

I was reading a couple of food review blogs from the Philippines and was amazed by the similarities between Malaysian and Filipinos cuisines, some of the name of dishes were similar if not exactly the same. I had a lot of fun peeking into the day to day lives of the people in my once neighboring country, was completely immersed in the wits and humors of those bloggers too! 

Odd enough, after plenty of reading, it wasn't the typical Malaysian/South East Asian food that caught my attention. It was somewhere between Chicken Adobo (which I fully intended to try soon), Afritada, Crispy Pata, Lechon and Pancit that I started craving for this particular Chicken dish -- Chicken Chop ala Malaysian Style.

This is a "Western" food as far as Malaysian are concerned, it is sold in most restaurants, cafe or even hawker stalls in Malaysia. A steak house without Chicken Chop? Not a good steak house!

As I was standing in the kitchen chopping, seasoning, stirring and reflecting on my past life, I realized that I have never seen this Chicken Chop anywhere in the menu of restaurants here in the States let alone in Europe! 

Then I started thinking of the reasons behind and slowly it started making sense! Malaysia is so diverse in culture that the Malay (Muslim) doesn't consume pork and many of the Indian and Chinese do not consume beef due to religion and beliefs. So it is only natural that the restaurants find the need to create a chicken dish that suits the majority! 

So I think the Chicken chop was a derivation of pork chop, well, I could be wrong though. This Chicken "western" dish was a marriage of the west and the east, a western dish with a local twist!

Today's recipe of my chicken chop was an impromptu and it turned out exactly the way I liked! 

I made this for lunch and NS requested for it again for dinner, I doubled his portion in the evening with lots and lots of vegetables, he managed to clean his plate too! 

Blueberry Buckle

I have to say that today is really not my day, I woke up this morning with stuffy nose and crushing headache, I guess a few nights with little sleep to care for a sick baby finally takes its toll. So I cancelled my morning walk and lie down with Baby A, he was surprisingly cooperative today so we both got like 2 more hours of eye shut before sending him to the daycare. 

Woke up feeling much better and baby A away in the daycare. I thought I will blog about this beautiful pastry that I made over the weekend for a get together at our friend's. So here I spent about an hour typing and composing the post and god know what get into me, I cluosed the page without saving the work!

Pudina Dal（Mint lentils Soup) 薄荷豆子汤

I have a pot of mint at my front yard, I must have planted it when we moved into this house in 2008. It went dead the first year during the winter. So I thought that it was gone for good like many of my plants. 

To my surprise, it show up again the next spring, flourish as ever and never failed to showed up ever since.

So if you follow my blog closely, you will see that every summer I have to find ways to make use of my mints. Here is another one for this summer, mint lentil soup/Pudina Dal.

I have to say that this dal is not quite the ordinary dal we used to have at home, it is very refreshing, nonetheless.

薄荷是夏日很好的一个食材，这道豆子汤带有薄荷清凉的口味，是高蛋白低脂肪的一道菜。

夏天院子里的薄荷疯长的时候，可以这做这个汤试试！

Chocolate Coated Strawberries

We were invited to a pool party last weekend. The host made it clear that we need not bring any food but dessert is welcome. So I made this beautiful chocolate coated strawberries that I had so much fun making and the kids had so much fun eating!

Baby Cereal Pancake

I have been giving Baby Arjun solids since he was 6 months old, he loves whatever I gave him so far. With 8 teeth and few more on their way, he has been chewing pretty well when I let him tried our food. I had mean to make his finger foods as much as possible at home.

So here is one of them, homemade baby cereal pancake...

【牛油果鸡蛋三文治】Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich

我经常做鸡蛋三文治吃，最近家里经常都买有牛油果给宝宝当点心，这个周末我就做了牛油果三文治，夹着自家种的番茄吃，真的很creamy很好吃哦！

We love egg salad sandwich as breakfast or snacks. As much as I love the taste of mayonnaise in the salad. I have been thinking of making a healthier version using Avocado, part of my eating right and losing weight plan.(Well, that deserves a whole new post I figure).

So I finally made this sandwich as we always keep some avocado at home for baby A. The creamy texture of mashed avocado is just perfect for this sandwich! I must say I really liked it! Yumm!

Kari Kapitan （Captain's Curry) 甲必丹咖喱

When I was young I often think that Kapitan is a mysterious Malay word that means someone in power or royal sort of character. Not until much later that I figured Kapitan is nothing but "Captain" in English. 

That makes the name of this dish all the more interesting, here is the version of the origin of the name of this dish I heard from my pals in Melaka:

It was said that in 18-20 centuries, the British colonized the then Malaya. 

Many of the British officers (a.k.a Captains) were based in Melaka for its world famous seaport. These officers often keep the local Chinese or Baba Nyonya as domestic helpers, most often time, Nyonya as a cook for they are known for their culinary skills.

Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup【意大利香肠豆子汤】

We love Carrabba's Sausage Lentil soup so much that I decided to try it at home. This recipe is my third attempts and it is so delicious and satisfying!

我和老公都很喜欢Carrabba's的这个豆子汤。我在家里做过几次，尝试过两个食谱，再根据自己的喜好做了点调动，这样做出来的汤很好喝。

没胃口的夏日午后来一大碗豆子汤也很满足哦！