RumahKu

Residential establishments turned into restaurants always have their own interesting concept. One of it is RumahKu which is located near Hospital Universiti or known to some as UMMC. The place is really cosy with old fashioned wooden furniture dotting the house. You can park your car in the driveway. It was a little quiet the night I had dinner there, so parking was plenty.

Cosy Porch

For service, a bell is placed on each and every single table which is really good because the house is designed with rooms with privacy in mind. Unlike restaurants where it is a square or rectangularly shaped, one may have trouble to request for service. My kind friend was willing to be my hand model while holding the bell.

The Bell

The Deep Fried Calamari Rings were pretty good. The outside is cripsy and the squid pretty soft. The batter is pretty well marinated and don't really need to use the chili dip for flavouring.

Deep Fried Calamari Rings

Tried a little bit of the Stuffed Chapati with mutton which was ok in my opinion. It is indeed a different way to present the common chapati.

Stuffed Chapati

A Closer Look

Nasi Beriyani with Mutton was alright too but the rice a bit tad too dry. The pieces of mutton were buried deep the rice and one would wonder where is the mutton when it arrived at the table. The portion is big, plentiful and the mutton pieces were really well marinated. However, it could do better with more gravy from the mutton but rather if not mistaken, they served it with another type of curry that is a little bit diluted.

Mutton Briyani

I wouldn't mind coming back here to try the dishes instead.

Address:

Rumah Ku Gallery & Cafe,

6A, Jalan Universiti,

46100 Petaling Jaya

Tel: 012-313 1073

Roasted Tomato Soup

I have always love tomatoes. In forms of juice, soup, grilled and even in its raw form, a fresh tomato fruit. It is an easy recipe and I have always wanted to make tomato soup from fresh tomatoes. I did not follow the exact steps in the recipes but rather, kinda modify it from various tomato soup recipes but most of them were more or less the same. Was a successful experiment and it turned out to be chunky. The ingredients below serves one.

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes

1 small Onion (sliced)

3 pips of Garlic (chopped)

3 cups of Chicken Stock

1 Bay Leaf

Dried Basil

Olive Oil

Salt

Black Pepper

1. Core the tomatoes and remove seeds. Try to retain the gel if possible as I read from one of the sites, it is the most flavourful part of the tomatoes but the gel parts are normally stuck to the seeds. I used a sieve to separate the gel of the tomatoes from the seeds.

2. Place the cored tomatoes, onions and garlic on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle the basil, salt and black pepper.

Ready for the Oven

3. Pop it into the oven. I set mine to 250 F and for 20 minutes.

Bake, Bake, Bake

4. Once it is done, mash the tomatoes with a spoon together with all the garlic and onions. They should be very soft by now.

5. Heat up some butter and fry the bay leaf for a few seconds. Add the chicken stock. Boil it and then add the tomato paste that was mashed.

6. To thicken it a little, dilute some corn flour with water and stir in the concoction. Let it boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

7. It is ready to serve :)

Bon Apetit!

Can add any cubed chicken meat or even more vegetables in give it more bite when simmering. Eat it with bread for a more filling meal.

Bellygood @ Sunway Mentari

What used to be Wendy's Bistro has now changed to Bellygood due to some legal complications about the name. We wanted pork so here is where we ended up at. It was pretty quiet and this is my second time here. The first time I came here, there were more people but this time during weekend, it is a little quiet. They do serve beer here too but it is not draught beer. You can have a look at how they prepare food as the kitchen is partitioned with a glass wall.

The Trio Platter (RM29.90) was our choice as we wanted to have a bit of everything! Chorizo sausage, grilled pork belly and pork ribs in gravy with a side of mash potatoes. The belly was really tender and well marinated. Of course, a little bit of fat to give it a juicy and succulent texture. Pork ribs was good too but just that the bone is a little on the big side and very little meat. The chorizo was just alright too in my opinion.

Trio Platter

We ordered the Smoked Salmon Salad (RM23.90) for something light. The smoked salmon slices wasn't really fresh as in we don't get nice slices but rather a little bit on the mushy side. The portion of salad is pretty generous though.

Smoked Salmon Salad

This is a place that I wouldn't mind coming again but then again, I would prefer Euro Deli and it is even nearer to my place.

Address:

20, Jalan PJS 8-18, Dataran Mentari,
Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: 03 5630 1699

God of Small Things

Recently this book called The God of Small Things by Arundhathi Roy. In this book, the weak gets oppressed. The "weak" is not due to physical weakness or material weakness but rather, considered weak just because they are born in a system of castes and the "weak" in this book are the Untouchables. As if the human being have no worth in this world. Although this book is fiction, but it is partly based on the life of the writer in Kerala.

This is certainly one of the books that makes me ponder after reading it. Someone who was framed and murdered because of a forbidden love yet, the person who framed him got away. Maybe I should read more books with happier endings.

Chicken Torimahu

After procrastinating for a bit, finally did it. Chicken Torimahu or in simple plain English, chicken ham. Using chicken breast which means lower fat and a healthier choice. The recipe to this is at justbento. I used cracked black pepper from Sarawak, sea salt, honey and dried rosemary as the marinade and left in the fridge for two days. I don't have any kitchen twine and substitute it using a sewing thread :p

All ready to be popped into the Oven

It is a very small piece as I only use half of a whole chicken breast. For testing purposes :p Was baked in oven for about 35 minutes and do line the tray with parchment paper as it can be a little messy on the tray because the chicken have juices dripping out.

Cooking and Sizzling

The outcome, a little charred piece as I was worried that it wouldn't cook in the inside. Next time I will just allow it to brown lesser as it was a little too dry this time.

A Little Charred

A cut of how it looks like. It is a little salty and had a tinge of spiciness from the black pepper. The chicken was still a little moist but could do better if it was more moist. Probably cutting down on the baking time would help.

Close Up

Had it with some porridge and another time with some sautéed mushrooms. Summary of what could be done better

1. Shorter baking time so that it can turn out to be more moist

2. Make larger batches

3. Desalinate for longer period, it was a little too salty when eaten by its own

Cheers! :)