Authentic Indian Vegetarian Cuisine.....at....Annalakshmi...Penang...!

The entrance to the Temple of Fine Arts...........

The clean and spacious restaurant overlooking the garden..........

Buffet style ........serving warm delicious food.............

Crispy papardom....................

Ice-cold thick and smooth mango lassi..............

My plate of chappati with rice, salads, and vegetables..............


I had my lunch today, for the first time in Annalakshmi at The Temple of Fine Arts, Penang. It is a very special restaurant whereby it is run by volunteers....(that means the workers including the waiters are not paid for running the restaurant ).They do not bill you for the food you eat but instead you pay as you wish. All the proceeds will go to charity.

I am surprise to find that the vegetarian dishes are really good and freshly cook. It is not too spicy and there are many varieties to choose from. They do not cook the dishes in large batches so you could get fresh and warm food, when they keep adding food as they cook. You pick your own food and drinks. I really love the mango lassi they served. It is rich and thick with blended mango. The place is really clean ( you have to take off your shoes before you enter the restaurant) and the ambience is cool and nicely decorated ,overlooking the garden at one side. Before you step into the restaurant you can smell the authentic smell of Indian cooking!

Actually I love Indian vegetarian food more than any other vegetarian dishes because they are more healthy. They do not use msg in their food instead they use a lot of spices to make their food more tasty. The chappati is a healthy bread too. It is made from atta flour and is not oily like the roti canai. The chappati at Annalakshmi is light and soft and taste really nice with dhal curries.(few varieties). I really like to go back for more!

For those who have not been there .....should give it a try. It is situated in no.1 Barbington Avenue, Penang(near YMCA, Georgetown ).I am not too sure whether they are open everyday. Their tel. no. is 04-2288575.

Spaghetti Bolognaise........the easy way........!

Some grated cheese...............

Freshly boiled spaghetti.......................

Ready made pasta sauce with mushroom..........

A Plate of Spaghetti Bolognaise.......................

If you do not have much time to cook or too lazy to go out to eat, you can always cook up some nutritious meal at home. Recently , I cook a dish of Spaghetti Bolognaise by using some readymade pasta sauce which I stock up in my larder. Normally, if I have the time I would make my own bolognaise sauce but this is too time consuming. With the many variety of pasta sauces you can get from the supermarket nowadays cooking up a meal is so much easier.

For making the bolognaise sauce ,I chopped up some onions and saute it in a tablespoon of oil in a heated pan. I add in some grated carrots to saute with the onions.(any vegetables like brocolli or long beans can be added). Then I add in the minced beef (use chicken meat if you do not like beef) to cook until brown. Then I add in 2 nos ripe chopped tomatoes(skinned it after putting it in a pot of hot boiling water to soften the skin).( You do not have to use tomatoes if the pasta sauce serving is enough).I add tomatoes because I have to cook for more than 2 serving. Pour in a bottle of the ready made pasta sauce together with some sliced mushroom.(I used canned button musrhoom). Add a bayleaf and some dried mix herbs and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes under slow heat. (this is also optional if your pasta sauce has all the herbs ).Add some sugar to counter the sourness of the tomato sauce.

When the sauce is ready, serve it with freshly boiled pasta and grated parmesan cheese.

Oouch !.....why ....are my two legs.....hanging up ??

(The Star on 26/07/07)


The cute and chubby little baby boy is my grandnephew( my sister's grandson). Poor boy have to suffer so much pain at such a tender age. His right leg was fractured and swollen. The mother came home to find him crying non-stop with a swell on his forehead after leaving him alone with the maid to do some shopping! (This is a lesson never to leave very young children under the care of maids without any supervision). Only when he was admitted to a hospital and after some thorough scanning did the doctor find out about the fracture. His right leg will be wrap up in plaster of paris tomorrow. He will have to stay in hospital for quite sometime. Hope he will recover soon.

Poor Baby Kyean..........

Poor Baby Kyean suffering..... in pain........... (the Star)


Sleeping peacefully......in hospital bed...........








(the Star)26/07/07)http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/27/nation/18419096&sec=nation

Crispy Toasted Tuna Sandwich......for Breakfast.......

The cute half baguette.....................


Tuna sandwich ready to be toasted...............

The heavenly smell of toasted sandwich ! ..................

Yesterday when I drop by the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread, I saw this litte cute half baguette. They usually sell the longer type, but this one is short and only cost 50 cents per loaf. So I bought 2 nos. to make this nice and crispy sandwich for breakfast. To make the sandwhich, all you need is a can of tuna in olive oil or water, some sliced onions, butter or margerine and baguette. Cut the bread into short sections , then cut each section into half lengthwise. Then make a cut in each section just enough to put in your tuna...be careful not to break it. Buttered the bread inside and outside before you add in the sliced onions and tuna. Then toast it in an oven toaster if you have one .....if not you can bake it in the normal oven at 200 degree C for 10 minutes or til golden brown. Eat it while it is still warm. This sandwich can be eaten as finger food in parties or gatherings.....

Pizza Mania......................

Online Ordering: Easy.. Convenient..Quick..But...No...Pizzas...For...Sale....When...Raining!


It was raining for hours this evening and I could not go out for dinner. My son # l had a craving for pizza and he wanted to try out the new cheesy bites with cheese dip that is on promotion. Since it was still drizzling quite heavily I decided to call Pizza Hut for delivery. After pressing a few buttons and some robotic voicemail. ..on the answering machine.....I finally get to hear a person speaking and asking for my name....address and so on. When I told her I wanted to order some pizza by delivery, she told me that they could not do any delivery til the rain stops.....so I ask her if the rain does not stop ,we will not get any pizza?? Yes is the answer...When I ask why cannot deliver when it rains? She said"the pizza will get wet" or I expected him to say that"the deliveryman will get wet instead. I thought they have a special bag to keep pizzas warm for delivery. tMust be the bags are not water-proof!! Some more she ask me to order first and will only deliver when rain stops......what if the rains does not stop?.....So the option is to drive to Pizza Hut to get it rain or no rain..... So off we went,my son and I in the rain.....when we reached Pizza Hut in Gurney.....the large pizzas we wanted was out of stock.!......... bad luck again! ...... not wanting to give up .........off we went to the other outlet in Prangin............I was driving ,so my son went in........I have to wait fes for the pizzas. in the car.........it was near closing time 10.45 pm.....not many customer and yet the service was so slow........and they even do not bother to offer any drinks for my waiting son ! Bad customer service!! .......we do not even get to have the filling of our choice.......out of stock too.....See what we get in comparison to the advertisement shown.......??

This is barbecue cheese dipping shown............

And this is the small teeny weeny bowl of dipping we got.!!.......

The round and fat cheesy bites !!...as shown..

And does this look anything like the above picture??

Anyway looks does not matter to me as long as it taste good!! ..... and driving round Penang Island looking for the wanted food is worth the effort.....LOL.

Birthday Celebration..........8 course dinner.......

The Carrot Fruit cake with cream cheese topping from Secret Recipe....hmm...delicious...

It was my sister Karen's birthday ......a time for celebration.....family and friends get together again....another excuse to eat..eat...eat...til our stomach full !! It is our Chinese tradition to invite friends and relatives to a full course dinner or lunch to celebrate their birthday. Especially when they celebrate their 60th, 70th,80th or even 90th birthday, they will even invite all their aquantainces to dinner. If the birthday boy or girl is well-known or a prominant figure in town, the people of the whole town will be invited! If many guest are invited , invitation cards have to be printed . Nowadays, people seldom celebrate their birthday in big bash...maybe they are too busy ..... ?.....too shy.... to let people know their age...??

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday of the 8 course dinner we had at the Tong Hoi Seafood Restaurant at Lone Pine Country Club, Penang, to celebrate my sister's birthday. The dinner cost RM 300 plus including government tax per table. ( There were only ten of us).....small celebration..... It is just so so only for a chinese restaurant.. Nothing very special .....but I like their warm and smooth soya bean milk with white fungus and ginko for dessert....they are very kiam-siap (stingy) with their gingko....cannot even notice it..!

The cold plate with 4 variety of food...............

First course - Cold plate with only 4 variety of food.(In my hometown Ayer Tawar) there are more than than 5 varieties of nice food but not much pretty presentation like the above..The cold plate has some chicken meat cook in satay-like spicy sauce, fishball in crabmeat, some very cute vegetarian small squids ( looks real, crunchy, and nice)wrap in cabbage .I like best the popiah like rolls with banana, crabstick , and salted egg yolk wrapped and deep-fried . Chinese course dinner always start with a big plate of few variety of food on plate... just like starters for fine dining

Vegetarian squid........looks real eh??

The delicious banana+crabstick+crunchy mah-tai(small turnip)+salted egg yolk rolls.

Second course - seafood soup with mushroom ,crab meat,fishball slices.....just like sharkfin soup....but without the sharkfins......good news for the poor sharks!..... no more killing of sharks for their fins....verdict: ok..ok.. only.....

Shark fin soup minus the sharkfin................

Third course - Steamed-Chicken......yellow colour skin......colour it yellow??......ok..ok..

The whole cut up steamed chicken begging for mercy...............??

Fourth course - Catfish cook in herbal sauce and spring onion...... not very nice because the earthy smell of catfish does not go well with kei-chee....taste funny...should cook this catfish in curries or something spicy to cover the fishy smell...anyway the meat is tender and fresh...

Catfish........oops..!....the head only....! because too busy eating......

Fifth course-Fried big prawns in tamarind paste.......nice and juicy......

Where are the presentation???........

Sixth course-Mixed vegetable stir-fry with cashew nuts.......my two boys keep going for the cashew nuts...... very small cashew nuts.....cutting cost..eh?....crunchy and nice.......

Mix vegetables-celery,mah -tai,asparagus,mushroom, red and green pepper with cashew nuts.

Seventh course-Yang Chow Fried Rice.....with char siew.... prawns......normal fare......ok.. not too oily or dry.

Eighth course - Last course is always dessert....Soya milk with white fungus, ginko and pak hup(lilybud petals).... cannot see much of gingko and pak hup??..cutting cost again?? But the soya milk is fragrant and nice..... not too sweet....Lastly,with a full stomach , we manage to push in our lovely cake after the birthday song.....waiter.. in a hurry... to .....get rid .... of......us....'.cos.... it was quite late...eating so much... food.

Soya milk with white fungus for dessert...............see..... no gingko...??

Durian Pancake + Ice-Cream for Dessert......... .

Sinful and delicious king of fruits (durian)..........

Ingredients for durian pancake..........

Durian pancake.................

Ice-cream.....................

Pancake + Ice- Cream................

With a big box of durian fruit brought back from sister's place , I made some simple pancake for dessert.... shop for durian ice-cream to go with it but not available...so just buy vanilla + blackcurrant ones....Here are my ingredients:-

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup mashed durian pulp

30 g butter (melted)

60 g castor sugar

2 eggs

pinch of salt

Method:-

Sift flour and make a well in centre. Put in beaten eggs , milk, butter, sugar and whisk to make a smooth batter. Add in mashed durian pulp and mix well. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes before frying. Fry in a nonstick pan in spoonful over medium heat. You can grease the pan with a drop of butter or oil before frying the batter.Turn over to cook the other side til golden brown. You can serve it with jams , butter, honey, cheese or any fresh fruits..or fruit puree..

P.S. Masak masak also has a nice durian pancake recipe on her blog , adapted from Amy Beh 3...see my link on the right....

A Hot Pot of Nutritious Porridge...........

Salted egg..................

Century egg.....................

This is how dried mussels look like............

Yummy...yummy.... porridge ready to be served.....

Porridge are usually given to very young children and elderly people because it is easy to digest. Some people only eat porridge when they are not feeling well. Nowadays many ingredients are added to porridge to make it more tasty and delicious unlike the plain porridge with those side dishes that our forefathers use to eat.

Today I decided to cook porridge because I feel a bit heaty after I ate some durians and cempedak at my sister's house yesterday evening. I would like to share my cooking with my readers.

Ingredients:-

150 g rice

100 g lean meat (chopped and season with salt and pepper)

30 g dried mussels

20 g carrot (grated and chopped)

5 cups water

A knob of crushed ginger

Seasoning:-

2 tsp chicken stock granules

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp garlic oil (the oil you fry together with your garlic til crispy)

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishing:-

1 salted egg (hardboiled and cubed)

1 century egg( shelled and cube)

1 stalk spring onion ( chopped)

garlic or onion crisps

Method:-

Cook rice with 5 cups of water in a deep saucepan. Add in mussels, chopped carrots, and ginger. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to simmer until rice is puffed up. Stir constantly to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then stir in the meat ( made into small balls). Cook for a minute . Add seasoning and half portion of the salted and century egg. Keep the rest for garnishing. Serve it hot and garnish with chopped spring onions and garlic or onion crisp.

Baked Cheese Rice....with chicken and sausages...

Canned cream of chicken soup....hmm delicious....

Baked cheese rice.......
My son#1 loves anything with cheese.... and he ask me to cook for him baked cheese rice today.
The ingredients I used are :-

2 cups cooked rice
50 g sliced chicken breast
2 nos chicken sausage -sliced
2 slices chicken ham- cubed
1 tbsp butter
1/2 can of chicken or mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk
slices of cheddar cheese or grated cheddar cheese.
1 tsp of chopped garlic


First I saute the garlic in butter til fragrant in a pan. Then I add in chicken breast(season with some salt and pepper)to the garlic. Fry for a minute and add in the cubed chicken ham together with the sausages to fry til cook. Leave aside...



Meanwhile arrange cooked rice on a heat-proof dish ( brushed with some melted butter). spread the chicken mixture on top of rice or can be mix into the rice.

Mixture of rice with chicken, sausages and ham.........

Then combine milk and cream of chicken soup in a sauce pan. Bring to boil on medium on medium heat. Stir constantly and then add in grated cheddar cheese ( you can use sliced cheddar cheese if available). The amount of cheese used is up to your choice. I use about 50 g. Cook til cheese melts . Then pour mixture over top of rice. Spread some sliced cheese on top. Cover with foil and baked at 190 degree Celcius for about 30 - 35 minutes.

Cream of chicken soup + milk+ cheese.........

Rojak....satay style......

Rojak stalls under a big tree...........

Rojak on bamboo sticks.......

Many varieties to choose ............

Eating rojak standing up......self service........

Today my niece
took me to eat rojak on our way back from Bagan Ajam , Butterworth to PenangIsland. We went to a place call Bagan which is somewhere near the ferry terminal. The stalls were under a big tree so it was cool and shady. There were about 3 to 4 rojak stalls. We went for the stall nearest the big tree because it was known to be the best among the rest. I was surprise to see the rojak were different from the normal ones... the cut pieces of fruits were skewer neatly on bamboo sticks.... just like satay! Beside the stall there were 2 big tubs of rojak sauce hanging from a metal ring. ...1 tub is hot and spicy sauce and the other is not . You can either eat your rojak there itself by dipping it into the sauce or you can buy back....you have to stand eating..because no chairs are provided...we decided to eat there and it was really good ...the best sauces with a lot of ground peanut added..Just 30 sen per stick...should try it out and you will never regret it.. we will definitely come back for more ....Another thing .. no flies because they fix a small motor on top of the food with string attached to it and swings like a fan to keep away the flies.. very clever invention!!