Recipe: Chicken and Mushroom Vol-Au-Vents

Occasionally, Hubby would put in a request for me to make him something from his childhood/teenage years. One of the things he craved for was vol-au-vents, which he associates as a festive treat during Christmas/ New Year that his mum used to make for him. The original plan was to make these for Christmas canapes but I didn't have time since I had too many other things on the menu, so I made it for him on New Year's Day instead :)

Chicken and mushroom vol-au-vents

Traditionally, a vol-au-vent (French for "windblown" to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry made by cutting two circles in rolled out puff pastry, cutting a hole in one of them, then stacking the ring-shaped piece on top of the disc-shaped piece. However, while I was reading Delia Smith's recipe book, she talked about John Tovey's brilliant idea of simply baking small rounds of pastry then halving them and sandwiching them together with a filling. This way, the pastry are crispier and no pastry has to be scraped out and wasted. I like this idea, so this is what I did for my vol-au-vents.

Crispy and light with a rich, creamy filling

To make the sauce, I used a roux (butter and flour mix) to add richness to the sauce. For the filling, you can use mushrooms, prawns/shrimps, chicken breast, salmon, crabmeat, oysters or asparagus, but I chose to go for the classic chicken and mushrooms. For the puff pastry, I used ready-made puff pastry which I simply cut  using a 10-cm cookie cutter (you can also make smaller ones with 5-cm cutter if serving as canapes) and then baking in a hot oven for 8-10minutes.

The result - a flaky, crispy puff pastry with flavorful, rich and creamy filling - and Hubby had two of them :)

Vol-Au-Vents
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Great Tastes French
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 5

5 no. store-bought puff pastry (I used Kawan brand square puff pastry)

For the sauce and filling
40g butter
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
375ml (1 1/2 cups) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper

200g grey oyster mushroom, sliced
150g chopped cooked chicken breast


1. Preheat oven to 200°C (with fan). Lightly grease a baking tray with butter. Cut a 10cm circle from each puff pastry sheet and place rounds on the tray.

2. Place in preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the pastry has risen and is golden brown and crisp. Cool on a wire rack.

3. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the spring onion and stir for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the flour and stir for another 2 minutes, or lightly golden. Gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth. Increase to medium heat and stir constantly for 4 minutes, or until the mixture boils and thickens. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and stir in filling of your choice.

4. The filling must be cooked separately. Simply place some olive oil in a large skillet and saute the mushrooms for 2-3 minutes over medium high heat. Season well. The chicken has been poached and chopped into small pieces. Add the cooked mushroom and chicken into the sauce.

5. To assemble, cut the puff pastry into half horizontally. Scoop sauce with filling onto the base and then top with the other pastry half. Serve immediately.

Note: Other fillings you can use are cooked prawns, crabmeat, oysters and steamed asparagus.

*I am submitting this to this month's Little Thumb's Up "mushroom" event hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.


If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE ME on Facebook. Appreciate it! :)

Swich Cafe, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, KL

Impressed with the food at Swich's outlet in HP Towers, we decided to visit their sister outlet during our last trip to Publika. With some help from the Information Counter, we managed to locate the outlet which is located in the walkway between two shops. Because of its location, I believe it is difficult for them to cook anything here hence a very small food menu but quite a good selection of cakes, which are what Swich is famed for.

Soft shell crab pizza with salted egg 

Swich Publika

Double cappuccino (RM9)

Hubby ordered the More Mojo salad (RM15.90), which is labelled as Swich's speciality and is meant to include dried figs, pear, carrot, tomatoes, spiced walnuts on mesclun leaves with pomegranate vinaigrette. Not sure what pear they used, because it tasted (and looked) more like green apples to me. This is quite a tart and appetizing salad.

Another Swich speciality, the soft shell crab with salted egg pizza (RM11.90 per quarter). The topping was pretty nice, with a hint of curry aioli, but I found the pizza base too crunchy, almost biscuit-like.

Baby D picked the Valrhona chocolate cake (RM12.90), made from finest Grand Cru single origin Valrhona chocolate and it was moist, rich and decadent. The little one was supposed to share it with daddy but he ate almost all on his own :P So Hubby ended up ordering a chocolate truffle ball (RM3.90) for himself. I couldn't resist and ordered the Cempedak Tutti frutti (RM13), since I loved the cempedak sponge that I had the last time at their other outlet. They are similar except this one is frosted with cempedak cream. The desserts certainly made our visit here worthwhile.

Cempedak tutti frutti

Chocolate truffle ball

Big boys love to shop here ;)

Mummy, what a strange looking man!

Verdict: Would recommend the cakes here at their Publika outlet but for food, visit the HP Towers outlet.


Join their FB page here for more info and updates.

Pork-free.

Operating hours: 10 am - 10 pm daily.

Location: Swich Cafe, Level G3 Publika Shopping Gallery, No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

GPS Coordinates: 3.1711, 101.66583

Recipe: Strawberry and avocado salad with honey dressing

Two of our new favorite ingredients in the kitchen are avocado and rocket leaves. Hubby found this recipe on Viva Strawberry's website (via Great British Chefs) - it looked absolutely fantastic, so we decided to make it pronto - for supper that night in fact!

Avocados are not exactly the cheapest fruit to buy in Malaysia, price can range from RM2 to RM5 depending on variant. We like using Haas avocados, which have a dark purplish-black and bumpy skin. We love the smooth, rich and creamy texture of this fruit. It only needs salt, or a simple honey dressing (in the recipe below) to enhance its taste. High avocado intake are believed to be able to lower blood cholesterol levels. Avocados are also high in potassium, folic acid, vitamin K, vitamin B6 and vitamin C. Strawberries is an excellent source of vitamin C and contain more vitamins than the equivalent weight of oranges. You only need to eat 7 strawberries (80g) to get your recommended daily amount of vitamin C.

Knowing how healthy the ingredients in this salad is makes me want to eat this more often!

Strawberry and avocado salad with honey dressing

A few good quality ingredients thrown together can create a colorful, appetizing and healthy salad - it truly is so easy to make and delicious. This is so good that we have made it more than 4 times in the last few weeks. I love the creaminess of the avocado, the slightly peppery rocket and the sweet/sour strawberries and dressing. It is now my mum's (and mine's) current favorite salad, so this is what I made for her on Mother's Day as an accompaniment to our striploin steaks :)

A beautiful summery salad

Try it - I guarantee you will love it! 

Mesmerising colours

Hubby likes some blue cheese in his salad too 

Strawberry and avocado salad with honey dressing
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Viva Strawberries
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
For the dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp honey
Freshly ground salt and black pepper


1 shallot, finely sliced
8-10 Korean strawberries
50g rocket leaves
2 ripe avocado
A small handful of almond slivers
Parmesan or blue cheese (optional)


1. In a bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside.

2. Hull and quarter the strawberries.

3. To pit and peel the avocado, first you need to find the stalk and remove it. Hold it horizontally, with a knife through the centre until you hit the seed then move the knife in a circular motion until you go all the away around. Twist the avocado halves in opposite direction and it will come apart easily into 2 halves. Sink the knife into the avocado seed and remove.The avocado skin should peel off easily (use your hands). Slice into long thin strips and set aside. If not using immediately, sprinkle the avocados with some lime juice to avoid discolouration.

4. Place the rocket into a bowl and pour in half the dressing (from Step 1) and toss. Scatter the
dressed rocket on a serving plate and top with the avocado and strawberry slices. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the slices and top with the almond slivers and shallots. You can also add other ingredients such as Parmesan or blue cheese.

I don't have to feel guilty having this for supper.... nice and healthy!

*Credit to Hubby for discovering this recipe and making the first batch for us to try. :)

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thank you ;)

*This recipe was featured on Fabulous Food Blog Recipes on 22 May 2013.

Asian Food Channel's First Foodie Face-Off 2013 in Malaysia

Asian Food Channel's First Cook-Off in Malaysia for Facebook Fans

In celebration of the upcoming Hari Raya holidays, the Asian Food Channel, part of the Scripps Networks family of lifestyle networks and Asia’s first and only 24 hour regional food and lifestyle channel, will be launching an online and on-ground initiative named the “AFC Foodie Face-off”. Organized exclusively for AFC Facebook fans in Malaysia, this initiative is aimed to further support AFC viewers’ passion for food, and provide them with a new and interactive platform to share their talents in the kitchen with fellow enthusiasts.

From Friday, 24th of May to Wednesday, 19th June 2013, local foodies can submit photos of their best home made dishes on the AFC Facebook page, where fans and friends can subsequently vote for their favourite dish submissions. AFC judges will choose the top 20 finalists from the top 50 entries submitted – The top 50 will be chosen based on fan ‘likes’, creativity and appearance. Those chosen will be given one week to prepare before they go head-to-head at a public cook-off held at local cooking school, The Cooking House.

Fans who are looking to participate in the cook-off can look forward to a range of exciting top prizes worth over RM 5,000 (First Prize), RM 3,000 (Second Prize) and RM 2,000 (Third Prize). The prizes will consist of items such as Nikon Cameras, Tefal products and AFC merchandise. There will also be a special appearance from two well-loved AFC Celebrities from Malaysia, Sherson Lian of 5 Rencah 5 Rasa and Anis Nabliah of Icip Icip. Both will be present on the day of the cooking competition as honorary guest judges.

1st prize: RM 2,000 cash + Nikon Camera D320018 with 55mm kit (RM 2,498) + Tefal Sensorille Range(RM 866)
2nd prize: RM 1,000 cash + Nikon Camera 1 J1 with Double Lens Kit - 10mm, 10-30mm (RM 1,698) + Tefal Rice cooker (RM 379)
3rd prize: RM 500 cash + Nikon Camera Coolpix P330 (RM 1,288) + Tefal Blender Blendforce Maxi Glass (RM 379)

Special category prizes:
RM 500 cash for 'Kellogg's Most Creative Dish'

All finalists will receive a Tefal Simply Black Frypan + Alif cooking oil and products + Kellogg's Cereal!

This initiative was created in partnership with Group Seb Malaysia Sdn. Bhd – Official Cooking Partner (Tefal), Kellogg Asia Marketing Inc. – Official Cereal Partner, Nikon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd – Official Imaging Partner, Sime Darby Food & Beverages Marketing Sdn. Bhd – Official Cooking Oil Partner (Alif), and The Cooking House – Official Venue Sponsor.

For more information about the “AFC Foodie Face-off”, please visit the AFC Facebook page (www.facebook.com/asianfoodchannel).



* If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thank you ;)

Recipe: Lo Mai Gai 糯米雞 (Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken and Mushroom)

Lo Mai Gai (糯米雞) is a savoury steamed glutinous rice dish which are commonly found in dim sum restaurants. In Malaysia, they are served in a small stainless steel bowl and then unmoulded tableside onto a plastic plate.

Lo Mai Gai

For us, a good lo mai gai must have sticky, soft and flavorful glutinous rice, moist and juicy chicken and a meaty Chinese mushroom. However, many dim sum restaurants don't do this dish justice as the chicken can sometimes be too tough or the glutinous rice has been oversteamed until mushy. Plus we always struggle to finish the lo mai gai since it is quite filling since we like ordering many other dim sums to eat at the same time.

To make lo mai gai at home is not difficult. With some instructions from my mum, we made these lo mai gai for lunch one day and they turned out great. I have kept it simple and just used chicken and Chinese mushrooms only. For the chicken, we used chicken drumstick and wing as it is much more moist and juicy and can take longer cooking times without going tough. If you look at my ingredients list, you will notice this is also a pork-free recipe so anyone can enjoy this. :)

Cooking times will also vary, depending on how soft and sticky you like your rice. As a rule of thumb, you should steam it for at least 45 minutes on medium heat, then taste the rice - it should feel sticky and moist. When cooking, you should ensure that the glutinous rice in the bowl is covered with the sauce/water to ensure it will cook evenly. In the instructions below, I have given steps on how to serve it in two different ways - you can either steam it in aluminium/heat-resistant small bowls and then unmould it when serving, or steam it in ramekins and serve it straight without unmoulding. The former would be the traditional way of doing it.

Lo Mai Gai 糯米雞 (Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken and Mushroom)
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Makes 6

Ingredients
450g glutinous rice, soaked for 4 hours
1 chicken drumstick, cut into 4 pieces
1 chicken wing, cut into 3 pieces
6 Chinese mushrooms, soaked
2 shallot, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chicken seasoning powder
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
400ml water
4 tbsp cooking oil


For marinating the chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger wine (or Chinese wine)
2 tbsp light soy sauce



1. Marinate the chicken with the salt, ginger wine and soy sauce for at least 1 hour.

2.  In a wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil and add half the garlic and shallots and fry for 1 1/2 minute until fragrant. Add the rice, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes over medium high heat. Remove from heat and place in a bowl.

3. In the same wok, add 2 tbsp of oil and the remaining garlic and shallots and fry for 1 1/2 minutes until fragrant. Add chicken and mushroom and cook for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Season with chicken powder and add water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add dark soy sauce and remove from heat.

4. In a ramekin: To assemble place rice first followed by chicken and mushroom, then cover with the sauce (from cooking the chicken). You should ensure that the rice is covered with the sauce so that it can cook evenly.

In a small bowl (unmould later): To assemble, place mushroom first, followed by chicken and finally rice and the sauce. You should ensure that the rice is covered with the sauce so that it can cook evenly.

5. Steam over medium heat for 30 minutes, then lower to low heat and steam for further 45-60 minutes, or until the rice is sticky and soft. (If you want to speed things up, just steam over medium heat for 45 minutes)

*I am submitting this to this month's Little Thumb's Up "mushroom" event hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.


If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE ME on Facebook. Appreciate it! :)

New Spring Menu @ Mandarin Grill, Mandarin Oriental KL

Dining at Mandarin Grill in Mandarin Oriental KL is always pleasurable. The elegant interior combined with stellar service and excellent food makes it a gastronomically delightful evening everytime we dine here.

Spring has sprung at the Mandarin Oriental KL...

Chef de Cuisine, Reto Weber explains that the revamped menu at Mandarin Grill is inspired by spring time in Europe, showcasing some of the best produce spring can offer such as morels and white asparagus. There will be seasonal menu changes quarterly, using locally grown ingredients for guests to explore some of his other signature dishes. 

The romantic, elegant Mandarin Grill

Love the table setting, and very nice touch using the fresh herbs/produce as table decor ;)

The rosemary adds a splash of colour

Mandarin Grill is currently running its white asparagus promotion

For the dinner, I chose to have the Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling 2010 from Columbia Valley, USA. Chateau Ste. Michelle is perhaps best known as the leading North American Riesling producer. This sweet white wine was nice and fruity, and paired well with all the dishes served this evening.

We started off the meal with smoked rainbow trout with a white asparagus salad, poached quail egg and French village croutons. The rainbow trout comes from Provence in France and is smoked in-house. The salad is finished off with a white balsamic truffle oil dressing, making this a beautifully refreshing and appetizing salad.

Smoked rainbow trout

The foie gras ballotine (RM80) was a favorite of mine and many of my fellow diners. The foie gras has been marinated in Cognac and Port wine, stuffed with slow cooked Barbary duck leg confit and served with spring morels, Granny Smith apple puree and a warm brioche. The brioche and foie gras ballotine were executed immaculately, resulting in a world-class starter. The rich, luscious foie gras is so smooth, it just glides on your tongue.

The best dish of the evening

Whenever possible, Chef Reto sources for sustainable ingredients. This is the case with the John Dory fillet (RM75) from New Zealand. The moist, flaky fish has been lightly pan seared with brown butter and thyme and served with turnip puree, chicken chorizo, butter lettuce and locally sourced Venus clams.

The wood mushroom cream soup (RM34) was very good - made with cep and chanterelle and finished off with morel dust and thyme essence, it was lovely, rich and flavorful. Though unusual, I felt that the cured duck breast was a nice textural addition to the mushroom soup.

For our first mains, we first had the butter poached Boston lobster (RM285). The lobster was taut and meaty, served with tarragon papardelle, coral oil, Parmesan crisp and an enriched mascarpone lobster bisque. We asked Chef Reto what coral oil was and he explains that it is dried powdered lobster eggs in oil. Lobster, lobster and more lobster - a lobster lovers dream dish ;)

The Hay smoked Wagyu beef rib eye (RM230) is first brought to the table in a casserole with its lid on, and the lid was removed to reveal the beef and the still-smoking hay before being taken back to the kitchen to be plated up. The Australian Wagyu beef, with a marbling score of 6-7 is first grilled in the Josper oven, to give it a lovely flavour and retaining its tender juiciness, before being smoked with hay from the Swiss Alps. It is served with carrot puree and champagne vinegar, confit new potato, and double baked Gruyere cheese souffle with black truffle jus. Love the beautiful arrangement of the seasonal vegetables on the beef. For this dish, we got to choose our knives from a selection of Laguiole knives (we all wanted the pink fluorescent one, but only one lucky lady got it!)

We were served two types of desserts - the peach combination and the crunchy maple pecan bar. The peach combination (RM34) features a trio of peachy desserts, namely the white chocolate mousse topped with sesame tuile and peach sherbet, peach jelly with fruits (raspberry and blackberry) with a dehydrated orange slice and peach velvet cake with peach sauce. My favorite is the peach velvet cake which was very light.

The crunchy maple pecan bar (RM34) is truly a sweet end to the meal. The creamy semifreddo was studded with crunchy pecans and topped with chocolate mille feuille and raspberry sherbet. In the little jar is strawberry consomme which you can pour over your dessert and enjoy together.

MO Grill Petit Fours

The starters and soups selection are priced from RM32++ to RM180++ while main courses are between RM68++ to RM285++ per dish. Desserts are priced from RM18++ to RM56++ per order.


Opening times: 12pm to 2.30pm; 7pm to 10.30pm.

Pork-free.

Location: Mandarin Grill, Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2380 8888

GPS Coordinates: 3.155514, 101.711555


If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE ME on Facebook. Appreciate it! :)