Miso without Alcohol added!!!!

Most Japanese Miso has added alcohol to enhance the taste. Just a month ago, i dropped by Isetan Orchard to check out any suitable halal japanese items to add to my mini-NTUC panty unit (that's what most of my friends said about my pantry unit, it has many many food and condiments). My husband likes miso soup so i was checking for any suitable miso paste. Found this miso has no added alcohol which is shown by the blur pix's red label. The ingredients are just soy bean, rice and salt. So this should be 100% halal. So hope this will be useful to ppl out there craving for halal miso.

To make miso soup, all u need is water, miso paste (add to your own preference), dashi powder (replace by ikan bilis maggie cube). Then just dump in what u want to be 'swimming' inside your miso...u can add fresh seaweed (can be purchased from NTUC), tofu (cut into small cubes), straw mushroom etc.

If you are interested to buy the miso paste, u can check out the miso website for more information.
http://www.maruman-miso.com/2syouhin_miso.htm

Yoshinoya Beef Bowl - Halal version

Years ago, there was news saying that Yoshinoya is getting halal certified but till today it is still not halal certified. I miss their beef bowl as the beef is sliced so thinly that it simply melts in your mouth without much chewing. I tried looking for thinly sliced halal beef and only cold storage sold such meat but it is not halal. One fine day, i went to Jurong East NTUC and saw this frozen shabu shabu beef slice (shabu shabu is japanese steamboat) and it is 100% HALAL. At one shot, i bought 6 packs of it as it was on promotion selling 2 packs for $9.90. My sister told me that she found the beef bowl recipe online and it is very easy to cook. Basically u need the right beef (super thinly sliced), dashi (japanese fish stock), mirin (japanese sweet wine), sugar, japanese soy sauce and onion. With the halal shabu shabu beef i bought from NTUC, i cooked my very own halal beef bowl.

Ingredients:
1) 1 White Onion (Sliced)
2) 1 pack of 100% Halal Shabu shabu beef (can be found in NTUC)
3) 1 beef stock cube (Knorr brand) (-> To replace dashi)
4) 1/2 cup water
5) 1 - 2 tablespoons Japanese Soy Sauce (YAMASA brand)
6) 1 - 2 tablespoons sugar

Steps:
1) Cook sliced white onion till translucent
2) Add in the thinly sliced beef meat and cook until almost cooked
3) Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the gravy looks like beef broth
4) Serve with Japanese rice and dash of japanese black sesame seeds to add that extra crunch


My own halal version of 'Yoshinoya' beef bowl

Stomach stomach, my growling stomach...where serves the best duck meat???!!!

Talk about duck, i have been sourcing for good halal duck for years. The first halal duck that i ever ate is from Malaysia Johore Bahru Pan Pacific Hotel's chinese restaurant (they also serve dim sum from 12noon to 2am). Their peking duck is the authentic crispy duck where they will slice the duck skin to eat with crepe, hoisin sauce and cucumber.

Delifrance Bistro also serves duck cooked in french way. The duck is cooked so well that it simply melts in your mouth. It tastes very unique when u eat it with mashed potato and braised cabbage. Below is the description of this french delicacy from Delifrance

Confit de Canard:
Duck Confit, a traditional French classic, slow-cooked and seared for a crisp layer of skin, served with braised red cabbage, broccoli and mashed potatoes

Last year, my muslim friend recommended me to try roast duck selling near Rex Theatre. But the skin is not crispy and the meat is tasteless and chewy. I was pretty disappointed with the duck sold there.

My department organised destress lunch at Hyatt and i found the BEST halal duck from Hyatt's StraitsKitchen. I've been to StraitsKitchen twice and without fail, i will attack their duck (at least eat 5 plates). It is better than JB Pan Pacific. The duck skin is very very very crispy and the duck is roasted well that the fat underneath the skin has melted. The meat is tender and succulent.

Hope StraitsKitchen will keep their duck standard.

Evertop Hainanese Chicken Rice - Duck joins the chicken family (^__^)/~

Last year, i went to Evertop at Clementi to tapau chicken rice for sahur. I happened to meet the boss there and asked him if he would ever consider selling duck as duck is not a common item that can get it halal. This year, i went again to tapau for break fast. Guess what i found this year, i found 2 ducks hanging at the display deck together with the hainanese chicken. Maybe the boss really took my advise and started selling duck. The duck meat is just as tender as their hainanese chicken. The only thing that is lacking is that the rice serves with duck meat is not the authentic dark yam rice. Hope the boss will improve on this and maybe next year i will get to eat authentic halal duck rice with dark yam rice. Yummy....

Address:
Blk 354 Clementi Ave 2
#01-259

Popiah...Laksa...Mee Siam...Nasi Lemak...Local Delights!!!!

Sorry to leave this blog outdated for so long. Busy with work recently. Just yesterday, i was talking to my muslim colleague and recommended him to try QiJi. Last time, i used to eat my dinner there (Bugis outlet) before i went for my sewing class. Really miss the good old days. QiJi's popiah is very nice...it's a 'die die must try' item there. Also, their mee siam and laksa are very nice esp. the gravy. My husband loves their laksa. Nasi lemak is a 'must try' item too. Basically all food items from Qiji are good. If u are keen, u can go to their website to check out their outlets.
http://www.qiji.com.sg