Recipe: Chicken Georgia (Paula Deen)

Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of updates during the last few days as I was away on holiday with my kids. You'll be able read all about it on my blog soon.

Since it's the last day of June today, I better post my last recipe for "Cook like Paula Deen/Deen Bros" today. I made this Paula Deen's Chicken Georgia last week for lunch - quick and easy. I'm not quite sure how this dish got its name (a quick Google search revealed no results) but I do know Paula Deen is from Georgia (and still resides there) as well as owning a restaurant over there.

Chicken Georgia is a dish of pan-fried chicken breast, topped with melted mozzarella cheese, shallots and mushrooms. As I was cooking this for lunch, I made a small portion of chicken but with extra mushrooms. I also changed the cooking method, starting with pan frying the chicken first, sprinkling cheese on top to let it melt, then only cooked the mushrooms and shallots last and topping it on the chicken and cheese.  Be generous with the mozzarella cheese, as it makes the dish taste extra yummy.

Chicken Georgia
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Paula Deen
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 12-13 minutes
Serves 1

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil

1 skinless boneless chicken breast, about 100g
3-4 tbsp butter

100g white button mushrooms, sliced

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 garlic, finely chopped

1 - 1 1/2 tbsp grated mozzarella cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

To serve

2-3 butterhead lettuce leaves

2 cherry tomatoes



1. In a frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and place in pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side, then flip over and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Transfer chicken to serving plate, then sprinkle with grated cheese.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in same pan. Add garlic and shallots, and cook for about 1 minute, then add mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Top the mushrooms onto the mozzarella to help it melt further. Let stand 5 minutes before serving or just until the cheese has melted.

3. Serve with some butterhead lettuce and cherry tomatoes. 

Note: The above is a ladies portion, just nice for my lunch.

I am linking this to Cook like a Star (Paula Deen and Deen brothers theme) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.


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Hello from Paradise! - Gaya Island Resort, Malaysia

Good morning from Gaya Island Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah :)

Please follow me on Instagram (@babysumo) for more photo updates. Have a great weekend all! xoxo

Sunrise at Gaya Island Resort

Beautiful and serene :)

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Recipe: Vietnamese Fresh Pork Sausage (Chả lụa)

I was browsing through the Vietnamese Bible again for more inspiration, and came across this recipe for fresh pork sausage, also known as Chả lụa. In the book, there is also another version of chả lụa, which refers to "Vietnamese pork roll or terrine", a type of sausage traditionally wrapped in banana leaves. I made the fresh pork sausage version, cos it's easier and sounds more like the type my kids would like to eat :)

All you need to do is mix the minced pork with the seasonings and herbs, then shape them into sausage shapes and wrap in cling firm. The sausages are then gently poached until cooked. You can have this either cold or warm by browning it in a pan before serving.

The flavours for this cha lua is quite mild, with hints of chilli and fish sauce coming through. The kids loved this a lot (maybe the cute colorful toothpicks helped?) and were eating this non-stop, dipping it in the sweet chilli sauce as they ate.This is one sausage I am happy serving to my kids, since I know it's made from scratch from natural ingredients.

Vietnamese Fresh Pork Sausage (Cha Lua)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Vietnamese Bible
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

500g minced pork

2 tbsp fish sauce

3 tsp rice flour

1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp fresh coriander, freshly chopped

1 small hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1. Place the minced pork in a large bowl, then add fish sauce, rice flour, sugar, coriander, and red chilli and mix well. Using your hands, form into 3 sausage shapes.

2. Wrap each sausage tightly in cling film, twisting the ends to keep the roll firm. Refridgerate for 2-3 hours, then poach in very gently simmering water for about 20-25 minutes.

3. Remove from water and set aside to cool, then refridgerate for a further 2 hours, until firm.

4. You can serve this sausage cold (slice and serve with toothpicks or in lettuce wraps with mustard, chilli sauce or Vietnamese dipping sauce). Alternatively, you can serve it warm - remove from cling wrap, then brown in a pan with some oil, then slice and serve.

Note: You can also use lean pork + pork fat, and place it in the food processor to grind to a sticky paste.

* I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest- Indochina hosted by Kelly Siew Cooks and to "Cook-Your-Books #13" hosted by Joyce .


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Recipe: Banana Nut Muffins (Paula Deen)

It's very rare to find overripe bananas in my house, as my kids will usually finish them a couple of days after we buy them. This time, I hid 2 bananas in the fridge since I wanted to make muffins with them over the weekend.

Banana Nut Muffins

Since Cook Like a Star this month is Paula Deen, I searched for a banana muffin recipe and found this. I changed a few things, such as reducing the sugar from 1 cup to 1/3cup (bananas are naturally sweet) plus I substituted 1/4 cup of walnuts with chocolate chips (my kids love them in muffins!). I also used walnuts in lieu of pecans since I have them in the fridge. This is an easy stir-and-bake recipe, so my kids could do it with minimal supervision.

The muffins were moist, nutty and just right in terms of sweetness. Thank you kids for making them!

On a separate note, my blog has surpassed 4 million hits today... thanks again for all your support! :D

Photobombed by a cutie! :D

Banana Nut Muffins 
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Paula Deen
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 18-20 minutes
Makes 12-13

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 tbsp  milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chocolate chips



1.Preheat oven to 200°C (no fan) . Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, combine banana, oil, eggs, and milk. Add the wet mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool on wire rack.


Note: I reduced sugar from 1 cup to 1/3 cup and replaced 1/4 cup of walnuts with chocolate chips. You can also use pecans.

Loving my new mini mason drinking jar :)

I am linking this to Cook like a Star (Paula Deen and Deen brothers theme) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.


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MySeafoodMart.com - Malaysia's First Online Seafood Store!

I love the convenience of online food shopping, whereby I can just sit in front of the computer, click a few buttons and get my groceries delivered to my doorstep. This is something I miss from my days in the UK.

The online food shopping trend is slowly catching up in Malaysia, and I am glad to have discovered MySeafoodMart.com recently. MySeafoodMart.com prides itself as a supplier of fresh seafood, so when I was asked if I would like to try their delivery service, of course I said YES!

Wonderful seafood dishes, made with delivery from MySeafoodMart

First, a little info on MySeafoodMart.com - it is the first & only full-fledged Online Seafood Store that sells fresh seafood online & provides delivery to most parts of Klang Valley. With over 20 years of experience in the fishing industry, they supply seafood to fish sellers & restaurants (such as Sitka, Porto Romano and The Kitchen Table) all over Klang Valley. Now, they have started an online store to cater to households in Klang Valley directly. Wonderful news for us all!

How to Order: Visit their website at www.myseafoodmart.com and under Categories, you can browse what fresh fish, fresh shellfish and frozen shellfish they have available. Select what you would like to purchase, add to cart and checkout. Then, simply enter your delivery address and pay via Paypal, bank transfer or cash on delivery. There is a minimum order of RM100 (RM15 delivery charge) and delivery is free for orders above RM200. At the moment, they deliver to most areas of Klang Valley, including Subang, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya, PJ, Damansara, KL City, and Ampang.

Let's talk seafood! All seafood sold on their website are from their daily catch and all orders are delivered directly from Pulau Ketam to your doorstep. Deliveries are made every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

My QC manager approves :)

You can choose from a variety of fresh fish such as dragon tiger grouper (龙虎班), threadfin/senangin (ma yau上午), giant/estuary grouper (long dan 大龙且), a few types of pomfret, red snapper (红鱼) and seabass/siakap (食角). They also have fresh shellfish such as cuttlefish, flower crab, prawns and squid.

Dragon tiger grouper

Red prawns "Hong Ha"

Our order arrived in a styrofoam box, filled with ice to maintain the freshness of the seafood. Inside, there was a 1.15kg dragon tiger grouper also known as loong fu pan (RM60/kg), 1kg of red big prawn XL size (Hong Ha 红大虾 - RM56/kg), as well as frozen slipper lobster meat (RM39 per 450g pack) and mantis prawn meat (RM22.90 per 1kg pack).

We originally had plans to make a Vietnamese dish that evening, but the seafood delivered to us was so fresh, we felt the urge to cook it that evening itself. The dragon tiger grouper comes from their own farm in Pulau Ketam and the guts/scales are removed before it arrives to the customer. We simply oven-baked the fish with some lemongrass, dill and fennel - the fish meat is so sweet, meaty and taut, we enjoyed it very much! See recipe here.

Oven-Roasted Dragon Tiger Grouper

We also cooked half of the prawns, with some garlic butter and curry leaves. You can find the recipe here. It's certainly pleasurable to be able to enjoy such large, fresh prawns - so succulent and "bouncy" 弹性 - finger licking good! The other half of the prawns went onto the BBQ that we had a couple of days later. The price is very reasonable for the size and freshness of these prawns.

Stir Fried Hong Ha with Garlic Butter and Curry Leaves

Prawns on the BBQ - delish!

The slipper lobsters are caught from the waters of Mersing, and the meat is removed from its shell and frozen to maintain freshness. I certainly enjoyed having it with my salad (see my post from yesterday for recipe), simply pan-roasted with some butter, shallots, garlic and thyme.

Pan-Roasted Slipper Lobster Salad

I have yet to try the premium frozen mantis prawns 虾姑 yet but am quite confident that it will meet my satisfaction as well.

Thanks to MySeafoodMart.com for providing us with the fresh seafood. I would highly recommend this website to any seafood fans.

Their offices are located at 92-2A, Jalan PJU 1/3B, Sunwaymas Commercial Centre, 47301 Petaling Jaya and can be contacted on 011-12308408.




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Recipe: Pan-Roasted Slipper Lobster Salad

We're experiencing yet another heatwave in Malaysia, and it can get unbearably hot. All I want to eat for lunch is a simple, refreshing salad with a glass of cold orange juice.

Pan-Roasted Slipper Lobster Salad

The good thing about salads is that you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen preparing it. For this salad, I used butterhead lettuce (simply wash and set aside) and halved some cherry tomatoes. The slipper lobster is pan-roasted with some salted butter, shallots, crushed garlic and lemon thyme (one of my new herb purchases :)). Slipper lobsters, like any other seafood requires very little cooking or else the meat will turn rubbery. A squeeze of lemon juice gives it a nice, zesty finish.

I kept it simple (and easy) by dressing the salad leaves with the juices from the pan, but by all means dress it with your favorite vinaigrette. Really delicious, and I loved the juicy, taut slipper lobsters.

For those living in KL/Selangor, you can buy premium frozen slipper lobster from MySeafoodMart.com or in certain supermarkets that they supply to - please see their Facebook page here. You can also read more about them here.

A simple, luxurious salad

Pan-Roasted Slipper Lobster Salad
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 6-7 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 butterhead lettuce, peeled and washed
6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

6-8 slipper lobster (about 250g), pat dry
3 tbsp salted butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
2 sprigs lemon thyme, leaves only
A splash of ginger or white wine
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 slices of lemon


1. In a large saucepan, melt butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and crushed garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, until shallots are softened.

2. Add the slipper lobster, thyme and a splash of ginger wine/white wine, and cook for 1 minute, then flip over to cook for another minute. The meat is ready when it turns opaque. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Remove the garlic from pan.

3. Place lettuce on plate, then top with slipper lobster and the juices, and garnish with cherry tomatoes. Squeeze lemon juice over the salad and enjoy!


Note: Do not overcook the slipper lobster or else the meat will turn rubbery.

I am linking this to Little Thumbs Up (June 2014: Butter) hosted by Jozelyn of Spice Up My Kitchen.


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Recipe: Grandma Paul's Sand Tarts (Paula Deen)

After seeing Paula Deen's sand tarts on Zoe's blog, I immediately felt the urge to make them for my kids. I quickly went downstairs to take the butter out of the fridge for it to soften. Unbelievably easy to make with only 4 ingredients - butter (I use salted), icing sugar, plain flour and ground almonds (my choice of nuts since I had no pecans at home).

Grandma Paul's Sand Tarts

I did a little research online, and found out that sand tarts are a popular Christmas cookie. The ingredients also seem pretty similar to polvorones (aka Mexican wedding cookies in US).

To make these sand tarts, the softened butter is simply beaten with the icing sugar, then the flour and ground almonds are folded in, and they're ready for shaping into crescents. These sand tarts are slowly baked in the oven at a low temperature, and the resulting cookie is buttery, tender and melt-in-the-mouth. They're also not too sweet, unlike most American cookies.

I am definitely glad that I made them, as they're simply delicious. My kids were delighted when they got to have these as their evening treat. As soon as the photos were taken, their little hands shot to the plate and grabbed a cookie :P

Is it good? My boy's expression says it all! Next time, I'm making a bigger batch!

Grandma Paul's Sand Tarts (Paula Deen)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Bake for Happy Kids & Food Network
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Makes 15 cookies

Ingredients
120g salted butter, softened at room temperature
40g icing sugar, plus 20g more for coating & dusting cookies
130g plain flour, plus extra for dusting hands
60g ground almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)



1. Preheat oven to 270°F / 130°C (no fan). Line baking tray with baking paper.

2. Using an electric mixer at low speed or a wooden spoon, beat the butter, vanilla extract(if using) and sugar until smooth. Then, add in the flour and ground almonds and mix well, until you get a rough dough.

3. With floured hands, take out a tablespoonful of dough and shape it into crescent. Coat the cookies with extra icing sugar and place the cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking tray. Continue to dust your hands with flour as you make more cookies.

4. Bake for 40 mins, it is normal for them to look pale yellow. Dust with 1/2 tablespoon of icing sugar while still warm. Cool completely on wire racks and store in airtight containers.

Note: You can use other finely chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans as per original recipe.

Cute boy enjoying his sand tarts

I am linking this to Cook like a Star (Paula Deen and Deen brothers theme) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe and to Little Thumbs Up (June 2014: Butter) hosted by Jozelyn of Spice Up My Kitchen.

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! You can also follow me on Instagram (@babysumo) for more photo updates. Thanks :)

Recipe: Stir fried flowering chives with prawns (Chinese)

Flowering chives are currently in season, and I am excited to see them whenever we are at the wet market or supermarket. It is relatively inexpensive in KL, and I would always grab a couple of bundles to cook at home.

Stir fried flowering chives with prawns

Flowering chives is considered a Chinese delicacy - it has a lovely crunchy texture and tastes slightly sweet. We especially love stir frying this vegetable with seafood such as prawns or scallops. It only takes about 2-3 minutes to cook this vegetable - it should still be crunchy once cooked.

This is an easy, quick side dish which you can serve as part of a Chinese meal.

Vibrant and delicious!

Stir fried flowering chives with prawns
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 6-7 minutes
Serves 3-4 as side dish


Ingredients
1 bundle flowering chives (about 170g), cut into 1.5 inch lengths
10-12 fresh prawns, peeled and deveined, with tails intact
1 tsp ginger wine
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules
1/2 tsp light soy sauce


1. In a wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and stir fry for 2 minutes, until lightly browned.

2. Add the flowering chives and stir fry for about 2 minutes, then add the prawns and cook for a further 30 seconds to 1 minute until cooked. Season with ginger wine, chicken stock granules and light soy sauce. Serve immediately.

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