Vision behind "The Hungry Excavator" FB Page

Hey all,

After several days of deliberation, I have finally decided to launch a Facebook Page for this blog, "The Hungry Excavator" (HURRAHHHHHHH...) And let me tell you, it was a constant back and forth and a lot of time went into thinking whether it was a good idea or not.

After talking to my awesome friends, Greg and Juls, I finally decided to let go of whatever doubts or uneasiness I had with the idea and went for it! It's been Day 1 so far and I must say, I really do feel very good and happy about it. Wouldn't have done it without these guys =)

Basically my vision for this Facebook page is not really to just post links or update reminders when I have a new blog post. Actually, it's more about opening up a space, a forum, if you will, for people everywhere to come talk and share their experiences or anything at all about food.

My dream is that one day, people will use that page to share things like:

a photo of their lunch

a recent recipe that they've tried

a favourite place to eat

a meal they had with their family

a link to a site that made them drool...... ANYTHING!

Also, it's really important that I make sure that everyone knows it's a safe, comfortable and harmless people to express what they want. I want to give people in there the freedom to express their happiness and also show them the same encouragement and support I've been so blessed to receive by many others in this Food Blogging Community (see Blogroll to the right).

At the end of the day, this Facebook page is not about me or the numbers, but about sharing Life* with other people through Food.

So why don't you join me, and "Like" the page: here to get this chatty/hungry/happy community going. I can't wait for all the good stuff to come out of this space. Thanks for everything! =)

Much Love,

Winston.

P.s.

Will have a proper link put up at the side of the blog soon. Also, I've changed the comment setting so that anyone and everyone can now leave a comment on this blog without any fuss. Enjoy! =)

<3

Ling Nam Restaurant, Melbourne CBD

I know I've asked a lot of people this question before: "Where is your favourite place to eat Chinese dishes in the city?" And most people seem to have their own favourite restaurant, which is different from the rest.

Though Crystal Jade or New Kum Den Restaurant always seem to be the more popular choices among people that I know, mine has actually always been Ling Nam Restaurant in Chinatown (among few others, of course). Again, I'm talking about: shared dishes - Chinese cuisine - CBD.

My main reason for that is because of the signature dishes that they have, one of which is quite hard to come across anywhere else. Also, their other dishes on the menu are generally quite good too. Better than most places, at least.

Though ambience and service-wise, there really isn't nothing nice to say about it, but who cares? I wouldn't expect that much from restaurants in Chinatown anyway. As long as the food is good, I'm set.

Signature Dish #1: Clams in XO Sauce with Fried Chinese Donut

A dish I've ordered enough times in other restaurants such as Pacific House in Richmond as well as Master Restaurant in Footscray to tell you that Ling Nam still does it better. The sweetness and spiciness of the sauce was nicely balanced, YUM.

However, whether you get clams that have a stronger smell than usual is beyond your control. It really depends on your luck and timing, that the clams are fresh each time you order this at anywhere. This applies to any restaurant that you order this from.

As for the Chinese Donuts, they were DELICIOUS. So light and crisp, they were gone from the table pretty darn quick. You absolutely have to order this to compliment the XO Clams.

Signature Dish #2: Stuffed Pig Intestines or "Yong Dai Chong"

This is hands down the dish that makes me come back to Ling Nam time and time again. It's definitely a signature, but not many people know about it! I only heard about this dish from word of mouth and I couldn't even find this on the menu! It's like it was a "secret" of the restaurant. Even my sister, of all people, who doesn't like pig innards at all really enjoys this.

The intestine was fried till super crispy and didn't have a smell, so sometimes you can't even tell it's innards. Prawn mince was soft and chunky and went really well. Do me a favour and please order this dish next time you're there.

Hot and Sour Soup

As much as I enjoyed the first two dishes, I did not like this at all. I'm sorry to say that I was appalled when I realised they used chilli sauce instead of chilli oil for the soup. You can definitely tell from the colour and it tasted a lot like ketchup and water. Also, the ingredients were quite sad to be honest and I couldn't finish it even though it was a small bowl.

I suggest people stop ordering this soup in restaurants and make it at home instead. You'll be surprised by how easy it is and can prepare it with all the fresh, wholesome ingredients you want. Shall post a recipe for this one day.

"Jing Du" Pork Ribs

Another ripper of a dish. The batter was crispy and nicely coated. (Don't you hate it when you go to restaurants and the batter comes out overly thick? Ugh..) Besides that, the taste of vinegar was just nice without being overpowering.

But what I enjoyed most about this is that the meat was still moist and tender and had bits of fats that literally melts because it's been deep fried in hot oil. YUM! Also, you can tell from the colour of the meat that it had been marinaded really well, that's why it had a very even and fantastic flavour.

After we finished eating, I left the restaurant feeling very contented once again by another enjoyable meal at Ling Nam. At the end of the day, it's a really good Chinese restaurant so I definitely recommend it, but you need to know what to order. Can't wait to go back there again.

Also, this place opens till late on Fridays, which is good for all you "happening" people out there. Only thing annoying about this place is the "minimum-spend-per-person-rule" that they enforce on Fridays or Saturdays (or both, I forgot). So, be a cheapo like me and just go on weeknights or Sundays =)

Happy eating, everybody!

Soy Sauce Pork Cubes Recipe

So when I first decided that I wanted to learn to cook about 2 years ago, the Internet was really my only source of inspiration. More specifically, certain food blogs that I came across. It was the first time I really came across a food blog and I was amazed. Tested and tried recipes, from people's own home kitchen, shared with the rest of the world in a quick and easy manner. I'm sold.

Of course for the longest time, there were only 3 blogs that I really kept revising to draw ideas and inspiration from, that would slowly increase my passion of being in the kitchen and learning to make good, delicious food. They were: Hunger Hunger (run by my friend's mum also from KK), Almost Bourdain (now moved to Gourmand Recipes) and Rasa Malaysia.

I've cooked SO many of their recipes since the start, that I can't thank them enough for their wealth of knowledge as I was taking baby steps in the kitchen during those times. Before that, most of my cooking was almost entirely inedible, seriously. Till this day, I'm still learning and find cooking for my friends and family to be such an amazing and rewarding experience.

After my first 3 food blog encounters, I slowly progressed to The Little Teochew and The Pioneer Woman after stumbling upon them by chance. Two more amazing food blogs that shares incredible recipes that I had the privilege and joy of recreating in my own kitchen. And fast track till this day, I'm slowly discovering more and more amazing people in the food blogging community. Every person that I've included in my blog roll (to the right of this page) continues to inspire me so much with their passion for food.

Anyhoo, back to this recipe. This Soy Sauce Pork Cubes recipe is one that I've made many times. Another amazing find from Hunger Hunger. I fell instantly in love with it since the first day. Soy sauce + Pork. How typically Chinese can you get, right? But by golly, we were FLOORED. Absolutely knocked off our socks. This was SUCH a tasty dish that we couldn't get enough of!

The reason why it tasted so good was 1) it was braised for a very long time. 2) the fats from the pork had given the sauce lots of flavour 3) the sauce was thick and glossy from the use of rock sugar 4) it tastes friggin' incredible with rice

This dish is so gratifying and I highly recommend it to anyone, do give it a try and I promise you won't regret it! =)

Note: The dish is slightly saltier than normal dishes but expected as it goes GREAT with rice. Add an extra piece of rock sugar if you wish to balance it out, but I don't find necessary. Also, my friend, Ann, was the one who taught me to cut up my spring onions and store them in the freezer (see top left of first picture below). Great way because they're normally too big and tend to go bad before I'm doing using the whole bunch. The flavour and aroma is still retained and now I have spring onions readily available whenever I need them. Good tip, thanks Ann.

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Soy Sauce Pork Cubes

(Adapted from this recipe by Hunger Hunger)

Ingredients:

800g pork belly, skin on

3 shallots (small red onions), sliced thinly

3 tbsp Shaoxin wine or rice wine *

5 tbsp dark soy sauce **

2 tbsp light soy sauce **

2 large pieces rock sugar

1/4 cup water or stock

1/2 cup spring onions, sliced

* Use rice wine instead of Shaoxin wine if you want a stronger soy sauce flavour

** Use Lee Kum Kee's Selected soy sauces

Method:

1. Wash and cut the belly pork into 'cubes' of about 1 1/2 "/3 cm thick. You can blanch the pork with hot boiling water if like to remove hairs and dirt. This step also prevents the sauce from becoming cloudy. (I skipped this step).

2. Heat up a heavy pan or a glass casserole dish like Corning's. Add 1 T oil, sear pork over high heat until white all over. If you are cooking more than 1 kg, it is good to cook this in two batches so that the high heat is maintained and the meat gets seared without letting out liquid. Dish pork aside and fry the shallots until fragrant in the same pan.

3. Return pork to pan, add the soy sauces, the wine, the rock sugar and 1/4 cup stock or water until pork is immersed in liquid. Cover. Reduce heat so that it gives a medium-low simmer. Water will come out of the pork as it cooks. Stir once in a while.

4. After 45 minutes, test the pork. If you like it softer, cook another 15 to 30 minutes. Otherwise, uncover and add extra rice wine if like. Add more water if sauce starts to dry up. Stir well to mix and increase heat to high to reduce the sauce until it's very thick. This may take another 10 minutes or more if there's lots of liquid.

5. Stir in the spring onions and serve hot with plain boiled rice. Add a plate of stir-fried veggies.

(Picture from when I cooked it sometime last semester)

Snippets of my Hometown: Kota Kinabalu in Sabah

Just like countries like the US, Malaysia is one of those countries that is rather unique in a sense that every place that you visit changes drastically as you travel from city to city, especially across the different states. No two cities in Malaysia are the same. They each have their own identity influenced by the local culture and history, which also transcends into the food you get in each city.

You'll know what you mean when you travel from cities like Kota Kinabalu (which is where I'm from) in Sabah, to other parts of Malaysia like Penang, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur. Fortunately, this is what I got to do this last year with some good friends of mine when we embarked on a Food Trip around Malaysia.

What I love most about my quaint little hometown of Kota Kinabalu (KK) is that it's still got a very old town charm to it. Not a lot of corporate ladders to climb over here, and a lot of people still lead very simple lifestyles. A far cry from a metropolitan city. This is why I still consider myself as a small town "kampung" boy at heart.

There's so much more to Malaysia than the big cities like Kuala Lumpur, which is sadly the only place most tourists experience when they visit Malaysia thinking that it represents all that the country has to offer. I always highly recommend my Aussie friends or visitors to try and make a visit to the East to see a very different side of Malaysia which I'm sure they would enjoy. There's all the islands, mountains and jungles which is loved by tourists and locals alike. It's also got the most beautiful sunset and more importantly, an ABUNDANCE of the freshest seafood you can find.

What I also noticed from my previous food trip is that more than half the food you get in KK is almost unbeknownst and unheard of to the rest of Malaysia. To give you all a little introduction, coffee shop serving soups/noodles are HUGE in KK. And this can be mainly subcategorised into either Pork/Beef/Fish noodles (as illustrated below).

Besides that, there are lots of different specialty noodles named after the towns where they had originated from such as Beaufort, Tamparuli and Tuaran. All of which, is like nothing you've ever seen or tasted before. Each so distinct from one another in texture and flavour. THIS, is one way to truly enjoy the local food that KK people have been eating for decades. Lastly, it's the SEAFOOD. There's SO much seafood that you should try when you're here that I don't even know where to start.

I guess it's easier for me to talk you through in pictures. Here's a snippet of some of the things that I love to eat every time I'm back in KK. All pictures were taken when I recently went back to Malaysia for a month in Winter. Here we go...

Nasi Lemak

Beaufort Noodles

A special handmade egg noodle originating from the town of Beaufort, heavily charred (as you can tell) and served with local vegetables, sliced pork, ham and char siew.

"Shen Rou Mien" or "Pork Slice Noodle Soup"

A huge favourite among the locals. Soup flavours enriched with pieces of fried pork lard or "zhu you zha". Trust me, you won't be sorry for having the fats

"Niu Zha" or "Mixed Beef Noodles"

Packed full of hearty beef flavour in the soup and enhanced with the taste of Chinese herbs

"Yu Zha" or "Fish Noodle Soup"

One word: FRESH. Nothing is frozen all made with the local catch. Fleshy meat, thick gelatinous skin, this really is what KK is all about in a bowl

My last visit at my fav fish store before flying back. As you can see, I went overboard (again). Here, I ordered fish fins, fish lips, fish skin and "yu fu" or fish omelettes. The good stuff because people who really enjoy fish are the last ones to order your regular fish slices.

"Dou Jiang Yu Bian" or "Soy Bean Paste Fish Fins"

My family always prefers the meat of the fish from the fins. And this is a crazy delicious fish stew that you have to try

"Shu Zhi Chai" or "Sabah Veggie"

A leafy veggie that is grown and eaten locally in Sabah. Delicious with dried shrimps and lots of egg

"Dou Gen" or "Bean Curd Sheets"

A specialty dish so tasty that should ONLY be eaten in Supertanker restaurant, a family owned restaurant where the husband still cooks in the kitchen and the wife still takes your order every night. This place has been around for almost 30years and still just as good as ever.

"Pei Pa Ya" & "Mi Zhi Ji" or "Crispy Skin Duck dish" & "Honey Chicken"

The duck is flattened until it resembles a Chinese instrument, called the "Pi Pa" and served with rich sauce

Stuffed Crab Crawls

A dish I've loved since I was a boy. Chunky and sweet prawn paste lightly dusted with flour after frying. YUM

Steamed Cod Fish

Another dish our family normally orders on special occasion, also only in Supertanker Restaurant. I LOVE steamed cod because the flesh is so white and has the smoothest, silkiest skin compared to other fishes. Also rich in fish fats, delicious

"Beef Soto and Prawn Ball"

This was actually eaten when I visited my mum's hometown of Tawau. Soto is originally from Indonesia but have been adapted by local Malays. Essentially their version of beef noodle soup normally served with a squeeze of lime. The prawn balls here were FANTASTIC. Smooth, chunky meat that was really sweet and made with local prawns.

"Mango Sago"

Also eaten at Tawau, this was at an amazing place called Indo Cafe. Freshest mango dessert I've ever eaten. Saw a massive fridge filled with local mangoes near the kitchen and they didn't skim. Very sweet and natural. Even sago was made with mango you'll smile eating this

"Pisang Goreng Keju" or "Banana Fritters with Cheese"

Also at Indo Cafe, never had banana fritters with cheese but these were the BEST fritters I've ever had. Even my mum (who really knows what she likes) agreed. The batter was absolutely perfection and who knew dusting it with raw brown sugar was such a good idea too

Finally, it was great being back because we got to celebrate Mum's milestone birthday. One of the things we've always wanted to eat whenever we ate at Seafood restaurants were the live lobsters. Unfortunately, the price was always too expensive and could never bring ourselves to order one because our family's always quite thrifty even though we've always really wanted to try it. Priced at RM280/kg and this lobster weighed at 2.6kg, it costed us RM728 or AU$240.

Way too much for us but we loved our Mum very much and thought that we should order it for her birthday, because she's worked so hard over the years and deserves nothing but the best =)

The insane variety of seafood typical in any seafood restaurant in KK. Price can range from cheap to VERY expensive, depending on what you order. All fresh and live, nonetheless

Our family always gets this guy to pick out our seafood whenever we eat at Ocean Seafood Restaurant. He knows that we love fleshy seafood with lots of roe and always chooses the best for us

Mum's birthday present =)

Love you Mum!!!! Glad you could finally enjoy your lobster. Memorable birthday indeed!!

"Lobster Sashimi"

What better way to taste the sweetness and chewy texture of the lobster than to eat it raw. The antennae was still moving at the table

Lobster Yee Mien/Noodles

A simple but delicious way to have lobsters. I've never eaten so much lobster meat in my life, what a treat for the family

My beautiful family (L-R): Mum, Sis-in-law, Big Bro, Me and Dad. Only person missing was my Sister who was in Adelaide and could not make it back to KK during Winter. She certainly was missed! =(

So I guess that pretty much wraps up my time in KK. Sorry for the lengthy post but I hope that it was was fun for you to read as much as it was fun for me to write. Will be going back to posting recipes/reviews as usual in a few days, so stay tuned.

Blessings,

Winston.

Steamed Egg Recipe (clap for joy)

So you know how when you were younger, your taste buds used to be really, really simple. There was once upon a time, when our knowledge of food and taste was so unadulterated by all the complex/sophisticated techniques and ingredients we have come to experience over the years.

You either like a food or you don't, that was it. It wasn't about how it looked, or how expensive it was, but simply how it made you happy/excited from the very first bite, for whatever reason it may be. You would eat delicious food wide-eyed, and smiling.

Mum likes to remind me that when I was younger, I used to be such a picky eater. But then there are those times, when I would walk into the kitchen, and immediately clap for joy at the sight of what was prepared before me, and she would laugh. My excitement and appreciation was uncontrollable. I can tell you now, that till this day, this is still the case =)

There's so many home-cooked food that I can remember off the top of my head that would make me feel this way. Dinners with deep fried prawns, fried nam yu pork, plum sauce duck, ikan masin eggplants, the list goes on (and on...). There's so many of these kind of recipes of my childhood that I plan to revisit and recreate on this blog, so do stay tuned.

This Steamed Egg dish was definitely one of them. Since I was a kid, one of my favourite things to eat was Eggs. Eggs, eggs, eggs... Boy, did I love eggs... I could eat a big plate of rice with this every time and would always secretly wish we could have this for dinner every night. No kidding.

The silkiness of the egg, countered by the saltiness of the duck yolk (placed right at the centre as the "treasure" of the dish), on a bed of tasty mince which had lots of sauce or gravy to go with your rice. Simply, divine. I'm so glad that I can make this dish for myself now.

And what's best is that it's not only delicious, but it seriously takes close to no time to make.

3min prep time + 10min cooking time, it's done before your rice is even ready. Awesome.

On a more technical note, I've always found the perfect ratio of egg to water that will give you a smooth and delicious consistency is 50ml of water per egg. So do feel free to use this if you use a deeper dish or would like to increase the volume of your egg. Also, 10min total steaming time under high heat works best for me. If you find that your eggs still haven't set, steam longer but not too long or they will turn out too stiff and "egg-y". You could also omit the "poking step" by steaming it longer under lower heat but I'm lazy and this is quicker.

Now tell me, what are some of the food that you now, or used to, like eating that would make YOU clap for joy? Anything from your childhood or of late?

Would love to hear the stories behind all the food that still brings a heartfelt joy to you or your family. Hope you're all having a smashing start to the week!

Blessings,

Winston =)

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Steamed Egg Recipe

Ingredients:

Ground meat:

250g minced pork

2 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp Shao Xing wine

2 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

4 tsp chilli oil (optional, if you like a bit of kick like me)

Egg custard:

3 eggs (your usual 60 - 70g ones)

150ml water or chicken stock

dash of white pepper

1 salted duck egg (optional)

Method:

1. Separate duck egg white and yolk. Combine all ground meat ingredients, including duck egg white (if using). In a separate bowl, whisk egg, water and pepper. Set aside.

2. Place ground meat at the bottom of a 22cm deep dish (approximate). Pour egg custard on top. Place duck egg yolk in middle.

3. Steam on high heat for 7 minutes. Open cover and use spoon to poke all around the egg mixture (to release built up steam in egg). Garnish with spring onions if you like and continue to steam for another 3 minutes (which makes 10 minutes in total). Serves 4 as a meal with rice and other dishes.

The Boathouse Restaurant, Maribyrnong

Personally, I don't like the word "reviews". It always gives me the impression of someone who is so far superior in knowledge of flavour/taste to give a precise and detailed critique on food. I am no where near that. And I know that most of the time it's not the case, but it still gives me the impression. (No offence intended to anyone).

However, dining out each time is such an experience to me. There's so much I wanna say because Food excites me so. So I guess this is just something I'll have to get used to, eventually.

And I always tell my friends I'm not a pro. I can't tell you how a dish SHOULD taste, but I can only happily share what I personally like (and don't like) about it.

And another thing that makes me hesitant about this kinda stuff is because I don't like to be held accountable to people. My opinions are really based on my dining experience at that specific point in time. We all know that not all restaurants are always consistent.

Heck, too many times have I gone back to a restaurant only to find that it's not the same anymore. Hence, good for me not necessarily good for me (again) and also you. You just have to believe how I felt at the time and try it for yourself.

Anyway, back to the Food. I've got this friend that I consider my foodie buddy. He used to be my housemate and one thing we loved doing was to think of which restaurants we'd try next. At the end of it, we always have a list that's too long for our own good and get ourselves really hungry. Aih...

And The Boathouse Restaurant in Maribyrnong by Masterchef Judge, Gary Mehigan, has always been one of them. We had a couple of errands to run in the West so we couldn't pass up this chance to try out this place. A perfect way to spend a pleasant Saturday morning with friends.

Ambience was very warm and inviting. I loved that there were lots of windows and natural light. Just feels more open and relaxed.

Soy Piccolo Latte

Everyone knows that Soy Pics are always my coffee of choice. However, I was quite disappointed by mine here. As if the glass wasn't small enough already, it was the first time I had been served a coffee that's not filled to the brim, which made it slightly bitter. Also, the froth was not smooth. The bubbles were too big and made it very thick to drink.

BUT, I was still happy because I got to spend that wonderful morning somewhere new with my dear friends (who always let me pick and take a picture on their food, hehe...) On to the food...

Ann's "The Lot" Breakfast

Sausage was good.

Kel's Roasted Field Mushrooms, Spinach, Poached Egg and Hollandaise

Hollandaise was delicious.

Ian's Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon, Wild Rocket and Feta

Hashbrowns

By golly were they perfectly cooked and delicious or what. Lots of microbubbles on this thing. Well done.

I had the "Breakfast Pizza" with crispy bacon, mushrooms and poached eggs

SO GOOD. The toppings were fairly straight-forward, but what made this pizza OUTSTANDING was the dough and how it was baked. It was my favourite kind of pizza to eat. The base was crispy, yet firm.

A lot of times I don't like woodfired pizzas because they tend to be stretched too thin that sauce started to seep through. Which makes them soggy and not crunchy. What's worse are woodfired pizzas that are so sloppy that toppings fall off when you hold them vertically. Thankfully, this was neither and the pizza was thick enough and baked till it was stiff and had a delicious crunch at the base. LOVED it.

Another thing I loved about the pizza was the little air pockets that you get at the crust. I LOVE THIS in pizzas! Just gives this extra texture and crunch from it which I always enjoy. Also, what's great about this was the slight char you find at certain parts of the crust. I love char, anywhere, anytime, so this was good for me.

Final thing that I noticed about the pizza was that it wasn't as sandy compared to other woodfired pizzas. In fact, you could feel a bit of oil when you touch the dough. Not sure how they did it but I'm sure it helped make the pizza extra crunchy when baked.

Overall, I really enjoyed the brekkie experience here. Although I'm aware that reviews here have not been the best. I'm just trying to be honest about my experience there, then, and this was based on brekkie only. They have a separate menu for lunch and dinner.

But to be very frank, I really wished they hadn't given me the two runny poached eggs (which had yolks that were surprisingly yellow, btw), because they made me feel really bloated by the end of it. Without it I'm sure I would have enjoyed myself a lot more.

Regardless, I had a great time and I can't wait to go on more food adventures with my amazing friends in Melbourne. Cause food can be good, but it's the company that makes a meal GREAT.

- Winston OUT! =)