Thursday 29 March 2007

Chef of the day

One of the first thing I told mom when I returned from UK after completing my studies was that I learnt how to make roast pork (siew yok). Naturally, mom asked me to cook for her. I said I will, when I’ve bought the family an oven, I will make one for her to try. Years have passed… it never happen. And now, it will never happen even if I want to.

Anyway, I was in charge of cooking today. Mom would have been very proud of me. Cooked 3 dishes. Here it is… the camwhoring of Zewt’s cooking:



Fried cucumber with vegetarian ham. One of Julia’s favourite (yes, I cooked for her before). Family’s remark… nice…


Fried ‘ghost’ sprout (kwai tao) with button mushroom and vegetarian ham. Family’s remark… salty, probably too much ham.


Fried oyster mushroom with ‘cili padi’. Family’s remark… nice.

Some of the readers here said they can't cook a meal even for themselves. Zewt will say… it’s not that difficult… you just have to try.

Have you promised you will cook something for your mom and you have yet to fulfil that promise?

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi zewt, it looks like you are now the cook of your family? Really admire you... I can cook, but only edible for myself, I think. I should take the time to learn how to cook from my mum...

Anonymous said...

I cooked for the family once, roast beef with herbs, portabello mushroom sauteed with garlic and olive oil and vegetarian soba.

All from the influence of Nigella, Jamie and a bloke named Bourdain.

Good to know you tried to cook, from the pictures you did quite well yourself.

Keep on wok-ing. I'm sure you mum would be mighty proud.

Cheers :)

Anonymous said...

I can cook too, cook maggie mee only :P
as you said, may be it is time to really do something (not necessarily cooking) to show our appreciation to our parents.
Ganbatte, zewt.

Anonymous said...

Zewt,

Well done.

For the fresh oyster mushroom you can try to cook with a few pieces of ginger and garlic together with some water,pepper, oyster sauce (optional) and salt. It taste good. Try it.

I must try to cook with ' cili padi' instead, it should be taste hot, right ?

King's wife said...

Wah, pandai nya! The oyster mushroom with cili padi sounds interesting. Haven't tried that before.

pinksterz said...

it is true. i used to think i will never ever manage to cook one dish to my mum.

but when i start to live alone, now i can whip a dish in less than 10 minutes.

i am linking ur blog on mine btw.

nyonyapenang said...

zewt's recipe!
i must try to cook the oyster mushroom with cili padi.

Purple~MushRooM said...

Wah... nice. I can cook. And I have cooked for my mum b4. But I tried cooking curry chicken last week but ended up a disaster. Whole pot of curry chicken went into the bin! Should have blogged abt it.

rainbow angeles said...

*salivating @ the sight (and thought) of mushroom + cili padi*
Recipe, prease?

Vegetarian?

rainbow angeles said...

Haha.. looks like EVERYONE is interested in your mushroom cili padi! :P Zewt Can Cook!

Theodwyn said...

Hey Zewt!

Thank you for your birthday wishes. 22 and getting older... haih....

And don't worry.. Won't have many chances to drop the 7 month old fella... co she only lets me carry when she is fed, happy and contented.. when she hungry or sleepy.. all she want is her mom or grandmother..

Your dishes look good!! I can cook... but never cooked for my mum before... I got a feelingn she'll put me straight to work once i'm back in PJ though.. and that's pretty soon... hehe.. need to brush up my skills so that i don't dissapoint her..

MissSHopaHolic said...

I cooked once for my dad.. i made sardine sambal.. and dhall curry.. I would have been the first person to taruk gula in the sardine sambal .. and according to my younger bro my dhall curry tasted like horses urine!! my dad ate though.. he actually liked it.. lolz

5xmom.com said...

Just what I need! I am on vege fast for season of Lent (40 days till Good Friday). Sobs! Torture! Tomolo, I am going to make oyster mushrooms with cili padi.

zewt said...

rinnah - only for today, will be back to work tomm. maybe i will do it again one of the weekends. yeah... you should cook at least once for your mom.

nazlihafizz - yo, glad to see you here. haha... looks like that bourdain guy had quite a big influence on a lot of ppl. will definitely keep on wok-ing.

mich - yup... or maybe a maggi mee for your parents... that's very good in their eyes i am sure.

Jan - hi again. your recipe is very close to mine... minus the ginger and pepper... try the cili padi one... i shall blog about the simple recipe next i think.

king's wife - i shall blog about that recipe soon.

pinksterz - adversity brings the best out of us eh? thanks for linking me :)

zewt said...

nyonyapenang - shall blog about it next :)

purple mushroom - hahahahaha... whole pot in the bin!!! woooahh... should have really blog about it!

angel - ok ok ... next post ok?

Theodwyn - oh... not old at all la. think cooking is not that tough... unless u wanna start a restaurant... for parents, i am sure they will eat whatever you cook. trust me on that.

MissShopaHolic - can food eh... sardine sambal. hahaha... horses urine... stuff it at your bro's face la... not cooking and he is complaining so much.

zewt said...

5xmom - Lent needs to be on vege wan meh? Never heard of that. Better not let my pastor know... dont give him any idea. :P

Winn said...

i never knw cucumber can be fried. can one ar? eat it raw better no meh?

eh good work la zewt, for not using eggs!!

..hehe.. if i were to cook hor, everything sure telur one..u know la, ppl who doesnt know how to cook likes to use eggs for obvious reason!! :P

Yung Jie said...

No meat ?! >:(

*rawr*

baggie said...

looks nice... i do cook for my mom n step dad occasionally. wat to do, they live upstairs only, hehehe... as for my dad, he is too far.. puchong while im in kepong.. :(

Unknown said...

What is this cannot cook? I can boil water very well. Just put your mind to it and let the whistling kettle do the job.

Cocka Doodle said...

I say it's not nice... it can't be nice....
Wanna bet? I dare you to invite me over for dinner and be the judge.
*grin*

Sivin Kit said...

let's say I'm impressed

SuLee said...

wow, very impressive, zuu kah choy, nice!

me said...

that cocka, anything to bluff a meal. kakaka. waiting for a picture of your siew yok...errrr, not your siew yok lah (i can't imagine roasting zewt's butt)..u know what i mean.

ah nel said...

roast pok easy to do worr...buy pok then burn it at gas stove till burn...

c_u_cun_ber kenot fried with skin lerrr!!!peel it off next time n it just nice to b fried with garlic n onoins... ;)

Anonymous said...

how come all the ingredients so similar one....lol* lalala~~~~~~~

Weig said...

"Where do you find vegetarian ham?", was the question from an interested party.

*da-retard-on-da-cooking*

Huei said...

heyyy the food looks delicious! the vegetarian ham..hm..i wann! :)

Seaqueen said...

Wow..nice..Tai ko chai lar..can cook already ar..hehehhe!!!

Must ask Julia about your cooking one day...dunno true or not based on what you say =P (kidding)

So what is your specialty??

Lil Daydreamer~ Make The Impossible Possible said...

Mmmm zewt, it looks yummy to me! Can i tried ? hehe happy for you cause you can cook and at least can take care of the family. I'm proud of you. "Add oil" (Jia You)

BaitiBadarudin said...

wah, zewt, can join the legion of celebrity chefs out there, mah!
wanna start a chapter of the slow food movement, ah?

zewt said...

winn - cucumber can be fried. actually, some food such as cucumber and tomatos, the nutrition is enhanced with slight increase in temperature (i.e. cooking). i think egg is like that as well.

Yung Jie - vegetarian for 49 days my friend. in honour to my mom.

Calvin's wife - once in a while balik and cook for him lor.

Cocka Doodle - wah... very smart la you.

Sivin Kit - i am capable of more... haha!

SuLee - thanks thanks...

zewt said...

me - that one have to do in Jules' place, no oven in my house. will take a pic if i do make it again.

ah nel - easy? in my version... i have to poke small holes on the skin ... many many holes, to enhance its crispiness. my mom always fry it with skin on, so I just follow ler.

anonymous - becos limited choice due to vegetarian.

Cirnelle - according to my dad, there's a store near tong shin road, near blue boy mansion, mom got all those stuff there. there's even vegetarian oyster sauce.

huei - thanks... looks good eh? haha!

Jessica - ask la... specialty... dried chilly chicken.

zewt said...

Fiona the confusing girl - thanks... i think most of us can look after our family. it's whether we are willing to do it or otherwise.

QueenB - slow food movement? haha... not a celebrity chef la... just a small fry cooking for my family.

Kenny Mah said...

I've cooked various stuff for my family but mostly my Mom and Dad would pass them over cos it's mostly Western food that my nephew and nieces like so much, e.g. pizza and pasta.

Whenever I start on a more Asian dish, inevitably my Mom would take over, just to get it "right." :D

zewt said...

kata tak nak - ahhh.... that's true. guess that makes everyone of us a chef... :)

kenny mah - haha... i get what you mean. mom just wont let us take control of 'her' kitchen. one thing though, my parents dont really eat much western. have to say chinese is not that easy to prepare if you wanna go a lil more on the high level dish.

Anonymous said...

I start to cook at early age, because both of my parents working, so i need to cook for myself and younger ones. natural man.. natural :P kakaka! :D so cooking is not a problem for me :) the dishes sure look tasty zewt!!

Terra Shield said...

I've only made pasta type dishes for the family... The food sure looks good :)

Anonymous said...

Yes yes yes Zewt can cook! A very attractive quality indeed! I have been fortunate enough to taste his signature siew yok! And yes cucumber can be cooked..someting new to me too, until zewt cooked it for me!

I think everyone can cook. It doesn't take a genius, just some commonsense. With experience we can only get better. It is just a matter of whether we WANT to cook! Think many of us rather run to the nearest hawker/mamak!

Daniel said...

cooking is not hard though.. i didn't know that until i shifted and staying alone..

but never tried to cook for my mom ;p

Anonymous said...

hey .. that looks nice!

zewt said...

bongkersz - wow... early age! how early? maybe one day we can exchange recipe eh?

Terra Shield - perhaps i should try cooking pasta for my dad, see what he will say...

Jules - thanks baby... there're more dishes up my sleeve... :P love you!

Landed Angel - maybe you should try then?

cibol - thanks. taste good too... haha... perasan.

Trader Max said...

Vegetarian ar you?
Where is the real ham? :P

Anonymous said...

There are other recipes if you want some.

I am quite a fan in cooking simple dishes. Just ask your colleague behind you on my annual bak zhang preparation.

Cherry Popcorn said...

Oooh.. there's a lot of ham inside there! =)

Glad you're up and about! Take care ya!

Julia is your galfriend's name? She's one lucky gal!

zewt said...

maxforce - have to go vege in honour and remembrance of my mom for 49 days. after that then i can do with some real ham la.

anonymous but i know who you are - i will ask you on monday.

princess shin - she is now my fiance. :)

may said...

I'm interested in your mushroom cili padi too, just like everyone else! gotta put that down in my "book" of recipes in my mind... thanks for the inspiration of a new dish!

Anonymous said...

11-12 like that lor.. haha, no problem :D

zewt said...

may - blog about the recipe aleady... tell me how it goes ya?

bongkerz - no shit!!! that's .... VERY YOUNG!!!! zewt salutes you!

Anonymous said...

wow..this looks real good

zewt said...

bengbeng - looks can be deceiving. but i think i did a good job :)

Anonymous said...

good job! belanja makan sometime ok!