Fried or Grilled Seabas or Sea Bream

I went to the fish market about a few weeks ago and as always, delighted to find such good bargains. Bolton Market, located in the Bolton town centre, just about 30 minutes from the city of Manchester, is probably the best fish market near to me.  

raw skate

With many kinds of fish on offer (especially on a Friday), I managed to buy 4 medium-sized seabass, and 4 medium-sized sea bream for the price of £5 respectively. Knowing for sure that these would have cost me triple the price at the usual superstore like Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's etc. I continued my quest in fish-bargain-hunting for the day!

On top of getting myself a medium piece of 'skate' (a kind of ray species but not exactly stingray as I wanted), I also came across fresh pheasants and game being sold at the market. But, that's a different story and will come back to that eventually.  

Anyways, the skate is very similar to stingray and the recipe for cooking skate will be put up later. In the mean time, I have a few friends who always ask how to cook a simple fish dish, and it's so simple that you only need lemon/lime, salt and turmeric powder. 

For 2 medium-sized seabass or sea bream (fillet or gutted and clean under cold running water, or ask the fish monger to do it), squeeze half a lemon/lime, 2 pinches of salt and 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder. Rub everything evenly all over the fish. Deep fry for about 15-20 minutes on medium flame, or brush some oil all over the fish and grill for about 15-20 minutes turning once.

Voila! Serve it with rice and chutney, or soy sauce, or just have it on its own.

Lemper (banana leaf-wrapped glutinous rice filled with chicken rendang)

We all love to talk about food, and of course, love to eat them too! But, not all of us have the patience or the skills to make certain dishes or food. I admit that I am a pretty decent cook, but, nonetheless, I still have a number of favourites that I am not willing to make myself (even with the best recipe), and would rather ask someone to make it for me.

However, if you feel like eating a certain something that your friends make very well, you can't really keep asking them to make it for you everyday, can you? Hence, the very reason of this post is to share with all of you (particularly fans of Malay food) Cinta Edah (chin-ter ay-dah).

£6 for 24pcs - Meat Karipap by Cinta Edah

Cinta Edah is a new venture of a friend for lazy people like me. People who cannot make time making tedious dishes like karipap (curry puff) or lemper (a new discovery for me and I have no idea how to describe the pronunciation). The 'lem' is close to film and the 'per' is as in 'paper'...if you get ma drift ;)

Pulut Panggang (somebody's pix TQ)

Similar to pulut panggang, lemper is steamed glutinous rice filled with rendang-like shredded chicken, but with much more dry-fried dessicated coconut (kerisik), then wrapped in banana leaf.

It tastes delicious, more-ish (even if I'm not a big fan of glutinous rice) and is sure to make your miserable British weather day more tolerable :) No offence, we all love the British weather, especially if you are in the North West. But this addition, makes it a little brighter ;) Better still, have it with a cuppa PG Tips!

 

£6 for 12 pcs - Lemper by Cinta Edah

If you live in the U.K. and are longing for some of these Malay goodies, then, you are lucky, because, first, there is now satay on the menu! And, secondly, you can get it delivered to you! To order, please go to Cinta Edah FB page. Who knows, you might be having satay for lunch tomorrow!

£10 for 25 sticks with peanut sauce - Satay by Cinta Edah

The Hot Yoga - Bikram Style

I have never been a great big fan of yoga in general. Although I enjoy doing yoga, I have never really enjoyed my class to the point of addiction, or even with the excitement of going for the next class no matter how easy the class is.

However, I recently discovered hot yoga, Bikram Hot Yoga in particular. A kind of yoga that is high intensity, in a 40 degree Celcius room for 90 minutes non-stop! Gosh! Was I hooked! The hot room is quite well-known as a torture chamber and a torture it is; but I can't seem  get enough of this 26-pose hot yoga class and wishing that I could join this class as often as I could, even twice a day if I can!

The controversial yoga moghul - Bikram

The temperature rises as soon as you walk into the room, and in less than 10 minutes, you'd be sweating just by sitting down waiting for the class to start. By the time you start the first breathing pose with your 'have-no-mercy' Bikram instructors, you'd be dripping.

For first timers (especially the ones who hardly do yoga), do not even try to go beyond what you can handle, if you want to last. Just take it easy and try to survive through out the 90 minutes. You may be fit and all, but this ain't just any yoga that you have ever come across. You may experience dizziness, nausea and what have you, should you push yourself too hard.

I'm still only at pose no 2 from the left

However, despite the heat and the torturous 90 minutes, I must say that there is something about this yoga that gives me the satisfaction of a good fitness class, that I could even shunt my favourite food afterwards, and only desire fresh uncooked food like fruits and vegetables. My friend's lower back ache even disappeared after regularly attending the class.

I never thought this was possible! But now I could achieve this - wider obviously :)

Curious? I suggest you all give Bikram Yoga a try! If you live in Manchester, UK, the Bikram Yoga Manchester still offers this great value of £20 for 10 days. Now, that's how I got hooked!

The Durian Perception

If anyone is going to be introduced to the glorious taste of durian, it has got to be The Choc Durian dessert from Just Heavenly Cafe (available in Bangsar Shopping Centre) KL.

Although I never thought that it is possible to eat durian with chocolate, but this dessert has definitely live up to its name in bringing together something so divine like chocolate, fused with the real thing and just melts in your mouth. Not too sweet and more-ish than I thought, this heavenly dessert deserves international introduction and recognition in bringing the status of durian to a different level. 

Any durian skeptics influenced by terrible journalism should keep an open mind and give durian another try by getting themselves some Choc Durian. Truly Just Heavenly ;) 

Choc Durian from Just Heavenly

Durian in its raw form