No one says no to curry. Ever. Curry Tonkatsu is the ultimate comfort meal when you're stuck at home during circuit breaker (aka partial lockdown) period.
Japanese Curry, unlike Indian curry, is thicker, with a milder spice level, perfect for individuals whose gastrointestinal tract can't tolerate intense spiciness. The crunchy katsu, coupled with rich flavourful curry, makes it absolute yumz.
Japanese Katsu Curry
- Cut onion, potato and carrot into small chunks before adding them to a large pan filled with water. Bring water to boil, and simmer vegetables for 20 min (or until soft)
- Meanwhile, start cooking the rice.
- When vegetables are soft, add Japanese curry to the pot and allow to simmer for 10 min. Keep mixing till curry sauce is thick and smooth. Add extra water while the mixture simmers to prevent the sauce from turning dry.
- Thaw chicken breasts, and season it with salt and pepper. Then, lightly coat it with flour, then raw egg, and finally panko breadcrumbs.
- Heat oil in a separate saucepan to medium-high heat and carefully deep fry the cutlets till they become a golden brown colour (about 2 - 3 min on each side).
- Slice the tonkatsu into strips over the rice, before adding shredded cabbage and drenching it with curry.
Miso Soup
- To make dashi, bring 4 cups water to a boil over medium heat and add 1/2 cup kelp (kombu). Remove the kombu as water starts to boil, and simmer for about 1 minute.
- Prepare 1/4 cup chopped scallions, and 1/2 cup cubed silken tofu.
- Bring the dashi broth to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat, and add 4 tbsp yellow miso paste. Whisk till miso has completely dissolved in the broth.
- Add the tofu to the broth. Simmer just enough to warm the tofu for about 1 - 2 minutes.
- Scatter scallions over the soup just before serving.
When you're stuck at home during the 'rona "circuit breaker" period (euphemism for COVID lockdown), it's probably time to venture into the kitchen again for more culinary adventures. Fortunately (or unfortunately), my annual leave falls smack in the middle of this, so instead of exploring the outdoors, here I am, tinkering around the kitchen instead of the operating theatres/ wards. Time to channel my inner domestic goddess vibes ~
(This recipe yields about 4 pan sized pizzas)
*If you happen to experience the misfortune of running to the supermarket only to see shelves wiped of essential baking products like flour and yeast, you can always cheat a little and get those pre-made pizza bases.
- Whisk warm water, yeast, sugar in stand mixer. Cover and allow rest for 5 minutes.
- Add olive oil, salt and flour. Mix in low speed. With lightly floured hands (on a lightly floured surface), knead dough for 3 - 4 minutes.
- Lightly grease a bowl with oil. Coat all sides of dough with oil, then cover bowl with cling wrap and allow dough to rise at room temp for 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Preheat oven to 250 deg Celsius for 15 - 20min. Grease pizza pan lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle surface lightly with corn meal.
- Shape the dough and roll it on a lightly floured surface with rolling pin into a disc. Pinch edges up to create a rim.
- With a fork, lightly poke holes in the pizza crust to prevent bubbling. Then brush pizza top lightly with olive oil.
- Lather tomato paste over top of pizza crust (I find that Campbell tomato soup/ Prego sauce works just as well).
- Top pizza crust with desired toppings (I made 3 different flavours - Honey baked ham with shrooms and onion, Seafood with shrimps, crabmeat and marinated dory chunks and Teriyaki chicken, with bell peppers, onions).
- Sprinkle mozzarella (+/- parmesan) cheese generously over pizza top, and bake at 250 deg for 15 - 20 minutes.
- Bon appetit!
Round 2 of post-MBBS grad trip - Tioman, here we come~
Tioman is a popular destination for avid snorkellers/ scuba divers due to its proximity to Singapore, clear waters, beautiful corals and fascinating marine life. The bunch of us booked a 4D3N trip (with CNE holidays, about SGD 400 per pax) and to be fair, that's the perfect amount of time to be spending on such beach holidays.
There was a shuttle that picked us up at Newton Hawker Centre and dropped us off at Mersing Jetty, where we had a simple lunch at the jetty's food court before taking a ferry to Tekek Jetty. The entire journey took about 6 hours (but the exact time depends on the traffic at immigration). From Tekek Jetty, Berjaya Resort has a free shuttle that will drive you to their resort.
The resort isn't exactly brand new but the facilities and rooms (ours was Garden View Chalet) were decently comfortable and clean. We spent most of our time at their pools and beaches.
If you happen to crave authentic Ramly Burgers, there's a kiosk right beside the jetty that is run by a friendly pakcik with AMAZING burgers. You might wish to takeaway your food though, as the jetty is teeming with sandflies and boy, the bites of those buggers hurt.
The jetty also has its fair share of friendly felines who will rub themselves against you and wind around your legs purring, in hopes that you'll give them a nice little scratch and offer them some food.
Convenience stores at the jetty sells at a much cheaper rate than those in the resort, so do get your supplies (*hint: alcohol) there instead. Be sure to catch the shuttle bus back to the resort for it's not fun at all to be marching uphill under dim streetlights for 25 minutes straight with plastic bags in tow, while fending away aggressive monkeys trying to rob you of your bags (speaking from experience indeed).
Within the resort itself, there are also plenty of food options. We had lunch at Matahari, a Thai restaurant by the beach (I loved their chicken wings and kway teow). Our daily buffet breakfasts and dinners were at Sri Nelayan, and the same restaurant also offers some light finger food for some poolside chilling. The prices of food within the resort isn't cheap (by Malaysian standards), so for our last night, we ventured out of the resort for some beachside Tze Char. Now that's what I call a hearty, affordable dinner.
Just look at how instagram-worthy the pool was!
On a side-note, we were out in the sun so much we started sporting some real impressive sunburns. The fact that we kayaked to Renggis Island and snorkelled in the blazing sun without lathering our backs with sufficient sunscreen probably contributed to that as well. Kayaking was RM 20 /hr (single) and RM 40 /hr (double).
On our second day, we booked a speedboat for a round-island adventure (RM 150 per pax). We went past the Twin Peaks (Dragon's Horns), trekked up Asah Waterfall, dropped by Juara Village for lunch, and snorkelled at Teluk Dalam (deep bay), Monkey Bay, Marine Park Centre, and Renggis Island. The waters are so clear we managed to spy cuttlefish, crabs, sea urchins, rainbow coloured fishes and even swam with some reef sharks.
Asah waterfall was slightly underwhelming though, for it was during the dry season when we visited and parts of the stream has dried up.
We also managed to rent some bikes (slightly old and creaky with squealing brakes) to cycle around the whole resort, and escape from pesky wild monkeys. It costs RM 5 / hour (or RM 15/ 4 hours or RM 25 for a full day). If you are feeling adventurous, you could always rent ATVs (at RM 150 / hour with additional RM 30 if it's shared) - which would offer you a better chance at running away from the monkeys.
For late night chill vibes and live accoustic music, you can pop down to the beach bar for some cocktails (and some quality htht). Truth be told, we preferred mixing our own drinks that we got from the jetty's convenience store.
It was a fun laid back trip with my baes and I'm looking forward to our next adventure together! <3
