There is meat curry, vegetable curry and there is also fruit curry. Surprisingly, it may sound strange, it actually tastes wonderfully refreshing and a perfect dish to whip up for Vegetarians friends. Pineapple is quite a common fruit used in curry but with the addition of fellow camaraderie the Starfruit, the texture and taste of the curry is enhanced.

This recipe requires the use of a very Malaysian ingredient called ‘Belacan’, also known as shrimp paste. Shrimp paste consists of tiny shrimps fermented with salt, pressed into shapes like blocks of butter or round discus pieces which are then wrapped in brown paper or vacuum packed for freshness. The smell is pungent and only a small portion is required for a single dish. Another important Malaysian ingredient here is the ‘Assam’ also known as tamarind paste. This paste is used to give this dish a sour tinge.

In Chinese cooking, steaming is a very much preferred method in cooking to deep frying. My mom always insists that when cooking at home, we should try our best to keep our meals simple and healthy. This is to balance out what is served outside in restaurants, cafes and ‘Kopitiam’ (Malaysian coffee shops). Steaming is a good way to bring out the sweetness in fresh seafood, may it be clams, crabs or even fish. Usually not much marinade or seasoning is added to the fresh seafood if we want to taste the original sweetness. Cantonese call it “seen theem hoi mei”.

I picked up a book on “Five-a-Day, fruit and vegetable cooking” sometime ago. What it says makes sense to me anyway. If we need to eat fruits and vegetables, why not eat different types of them together as a dish. Each vegetable or fruit has its own plus points. For example, petai (stinking bean) which has a very pervasive smell but is considered a very highly sought after ingredient in Malaysia especially when cooked with ‘sambal belacan’ and dried shrimps.

Aubergine, eggplant, brinjal, whatever you call it, they all refer to the same vegetable. I have grown to love this vegetable after realising how versatile it can be used in cooking. It tastes wonderful in the French ratatouille, roasted, mashed and made into dips, seasoned and grilled over charcoal, battered and deep-fried into Japanese tempura, braised, stuffed in the Malaysian Yong Tau Fu and the list goes on.

This is another one of my Penang hokkien-style recipes I indulge in from time to time. It is easy to prepare and pretty alluring to the palate, I might say.

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Finally, yes …. I am on vacation! so guess what! I have time to romance my blog. It is always a pure joy for me to click away on the keyboard and someone on the receiving end gets to cook something heart-warmingly wholesome for their family. Since my son has been enjoying his pumpkin puree or pumpkin ala rice cereal, there is still a lot of pumpkin left so we have also been eating pumpkin ala this and that.

Deeply inspired by my latest cooking frenzy, my cravings have happily taken me to Eastern North Carolina’s ever popular dark brown shards called pulled pork burger. I wanted to try out this type of recipe but never had the time. Instead of slaving over charcoal and pit smoke, I made this in my super heated steam oven. Verdict : I had a mop of people waiting in queue to dig into this burger and wanting second helpings. Will I make it again? YES … Go figure!

This was my one time favourite, had it once every week until someone asked “Are there anything else to eat?”