.: evil jungle prince :.

Just got back from a few days vacat- ooops I mean business trip in Las Vegas. Such jaunts are the perfect opportunity to sample some new foods while I'm hundreds away from the comfort of my own kitchen. While traipsing through Chinatown to stock up on ingredients, my friend Scott and I discovered a place called Satay Malaysian Grille restaurant...

The drink special was "two for one" mojitos -- not very Malay but I can never say no to cheap drinks, so on with the food...

First we started with the roti canai, which was sinfully buttery, rendered even more decadent by its accompanying coconut curry. DROOL, this was incredible. The bread was flaky and moist at the same time, while the curry was perfectly spicy and complex.

Next came the "Chinese rojak" which was not as impressive. It came with pieces of fried shrimp, which surprised me, and the fruits used were not at all impressive. I think perhaps the chef did not have access to the proper ingredients? I was very surprised to find this more vegetable-oriented than tropical fruit oriented, but as I've never tried rojak I'm no expert.

Our first main dish was char kway teow (Chinese : 炒粿條，炒河粉) with shrimp, which I felt was the highlight of the meal. This dish's taste was deep, mellow, and salty thanks to what tasted like heavy tamarind seasoning. This was my first time eating this dish and loved it; especially surprising considering it was made with egg. I'm not a big fan of eggs but the egg in this dish has the consistency of tofu and was seasoned so deliciously that there was no "eggy" taste or smell. Loved it!

I'm not sure what the Malay name is for this dish but it appeared on the menu as "yam pot" -- essentially it's a basket made from deep fried taro, and the inside is a stir fried seafood medley. This was so delicious and delicately seasoned with just a bit of ginger and soy, I'm guessing. This tasted more Chinese than Malay but it made a great accompaniment to our spicier, heavier dishes.

Burp! The food here was excellent, the drinks were cheap, and the service was excellent. Great ambiance with no crowds. I wasn't impressed with the rojak but everything else was excellent. Very recommended.

Satay Malaysian Grille
3755 Spring Mountain Road, Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 362-2828

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I'm marking this year as my final attempt at growing Korean radishes. For whatever reason, they just don't like the climate here in the southern California desert -- I imagine it gets too hot during the day for them, even in the middle of our winters (usually 70F at around mid-day). Sigh! How I would love to grow my own for kimchi and other purposes, but it's just not in the cards. I have such a fetish for Korean radishes: those beautiful, globular canon-balls of the vegetable world with their gorgeous green skull-caps. I can barely contain myself when I see them in a Korean grocery store, always with an overwhelming desire to put them all in my cart and take the whole lot home. (I know -- this doesn't sound healthy at all and I'm the first to admit it.) But as to my own radish cultivation efforts, it's the same thing every year -- for a while the seedlings do wonderfully and then... nothing else, with no establishment of an actual radish root.

So this year I decided to eat my mistakes and make sure the radish leaves did not go to waste. As I pulled out the failed seedlings I at once heard a fellow blogger's voice (KT) say: "Don't you dare throw out those radish leaves!" I abided by her trans-continental advice and prepared them according to her recipe, creating a tasty banchan to accompany rice.

1. First I chopped the radish leaves roughly.

2. Next I sauteed them in a little sesame oil briefly, adding just a bit of sugar, soy sauce, and sesame seeds.

So simple and so tasty. Now I feel rather silly for having wasted so many radish leaves in my lifetime.

But since we're talking radishes, here's a North Korean video on my favorite kimchi, kkaktugi. I'm sure you'll want to get up and dance all around just like I did. Kim Jong Il is just the hippest video-director ever, isn't he?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today I had some interesting ingredients in my refrigerator to work with. For the record, I normally don't plan dishes, I just let them create themselves based on what I have on hand. This might drive other cooks crazy but rarely do I do advance meal planning. Instead, it's an Iron Chef contest of one. I do this to use up everything I can, avoid waste, and challenge myself.

Based on the availability of almonds, pistachios, and some wonderful Anaheim peppers which I spotted at the grocery store recently, I decided to combine two dishes: fried green peppers with garlicy yogurt sauce and Istanbul pilavi, or Instanbul style pilaf. Although the latter is normally made with chicken, I substituted mine with chickpeas to make for a completely vegetarian meal.

To start, I began by making my yogurt garlic sauce, combining Greek yogurt, 1 clove of garlic (minced), a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt to taste. I love this sauce and it's incredible to think how such a simple thing can taste so delicious! Next I made my pilaf by:

1. First I sauteed almonds and pistachios in a little butter, using Trader Joe's butter which is free of Bovine Growth Hormones. Next I added my rice to mixture (long-grain) and sauteed that as well.

2. I then added vegetable stock, salt, black pepper and and a little saffron water (made by soaking saffron threads in warm water). Next the water was added (measure using the finger method*) and the mixture brought to a boil. Add chickpeas. I then covered the pot and allowed it to simmer until done.

3. Finally, I stirred some fresh dill and allowed the rice to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

* to measure enough water to prepare rice, place your finger on top of the rice and fill with water until the water reaches the first bend in your finger. In this case, since I made long-grain rice, I added just a tad more water so that the rice would not be sticky.

I discovered the following video on youtube -- it knocked my socks off! Although the instrumental introduction is slow, hang in there for the incredible voice of Turkish singer Bulent Ersoy.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I may be jumping the gun on seasonal dishes with this one, but today it was sunny and warm and I felt like having something that was cool, hearty, and refreshing after working out in the garden. Luckily I had all the right ingredients for kong guksu (콩국수), but as I've posted this recipe before, I thought I'd try making a variation of it: peanut kong guksu.

Usually the soy bean broth for this dish is combined with toasted sesame seeds, which gives it a wonderful nutty flavor. But recently I came across a recipe for a variation of this dish using instead peanuts. I thought it sounded good and peanuts were on sale at the grocery store, so why not? The result was tasty, but I must confess I prefer the sesame seed version!

This isn't an easy dish as it requires a lot prep:

1. Start by soaking half a cut up soy beans in water. Give them time to fully plump up -- at least an hour but probably a few hours. (I allowed mine to soak overnight.)

2. After soaking, boil the soy beans for 45 minutes and then rinse in cold water. Add to blender.

3. Now toast some chopped peanuts until fragrant (or substitute sesame seeds for the original version.) In my version I usually use about 4-5 tsp peanuts/sesame seeds. Add these to the blender as well, leaving aside some for a topping.

4. In the blender, add in equal part water to the mixture and blend the water-peanuts-soy bean mixture. Add some more water until most but not all of the blender is full. Blend fully until milky.

5. Now squeeze small portions of the blended soy mixture through cheesecloth, reserving the liquid. Discard the chalky soy bean remnants. When finished, add salt to taste to the soy bean broth and refrigerate.

6. Boil some white somen noodles, rinsing in cold water when done.

7. Place the cooked somen noodles into the soy bean broth, topping with cucumber, tomato, and the remaining roasted peanuts. Add ice cubes to broth to cool down, if you wish.

I'm not sure if it's authentic or not, but I also enjoy adding just a little bit of sesame seed soil and mustard oil to my broth before eating. But be careful to not use more than 1 tsp of mustard oil or you will soon be hating life! :-)

Some music to enjoy your kong guksu with...

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was craving something tropical yesterday (as usual), but couldn't decide between making a mango lassi or making a banana lassi. So why not combine them, I thought? Here's the result -- I loved the unique color and taste combination this turned out to be. The mango was flavorful and tart whereas the banana was smooth and sweet. Combined with a little lime juice, honey, and yogurt this was really a superb and refreshing snack.

Here's how I made it:

1. First I skinned a ripe mango and cut the flesh into pieces.

2. In a blender I combined the following: fresh mango, one banana, 2-3 tsp honey (for sweetening), 1 tsp lime juice (for a little tartness), Greek yogurt, and some frozen mango pieces (to keep the drink nice and cold).

3. Blend briefly. Don't blend too long in order to keep the drink cool and thick.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)