Happy New Year! How has everyone been doing? It’s been a long time since Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food was updated and I’ve received many emails wondering what I’ve been up to. Well, I’m doing fine and the cooking hasn’t stopped albeit, very much of the same old recipes recycling every other week. My family has also been blessed with a domestic helper from the Philipines who is very talented in cooking as she has been able to pick up Chinese cooking really fast. So, it’s been good to be having nourishing home-cooked food every evening when we return home from work.

So, what’s this cookbook that I have featured here on this post, you may ask. It’s something really exciting that I want to share with you. Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food was written based on my passion to record down everyday home-cooked food recipes to be shared with people all around the world and it has brought me tremendous pleasure and satisfaction to see many of you successfully replicating or even improvising on the recipes. Likewise, the Legacy cookbook is was written by 37 contributors, mostly home-makers and produced with the aim of ensuring that these favourite home-cooked food recipes are not forgotten.

The hard-covered 131-paged Legacy cookbook features more than 136 pages of 68 recipes ranging from Hakka Stewed Pork (Char Yuk) to Teo Chew Duck and Mee Siam. Desserts are not left out. The founders of Just Heavenly (famously known for their cakes and desserts) have also generously contributed some recipes in this cookbook. Meanwhile, two recipes featured on Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food are also featured in this cookbook.

I was also given the privilege to write the Foreword for this cookbook, which was printed and produced out of love for food. The Legacy cookbook retails at RM100.00 (gift-box not included) and full proceeds will be channeled to the Wesley Legacy Centre, a new multi-storey building project of the Wesley Methodist Church, Kuala Lumpur. Shipping is via courier is at a flat rate of RM15 worldwide for Malaysia. If you are not from Malaysia and wish to purchase this cookbook, please leave a comment here so that I can quote the shipping charges for you.

I truly hope that you will support this project which is non-commercial in nature. It took the project team, a small group of volunteers, one year to complete this cookbook. I have bought one. Will you buy one too for yourself and as a legacy to pass on down the generations?

A sampling of the recipes featured are as follows:-

• Foochow Braised Duck
• Coriander Chicken Curry
• Chicken Pongteh
• Kaffir Lime Pepper Chicken
• Tex Mex Beef Tacos
• Meat Loaf
• Mutton Mysore Varuval
• Curry Deval
• Salt Beef
• Fish Head Assam Curry
• Fisherman’s Pie
• Sambal Petai Prawns
• Hakka Taufoo Soong
• Stuffed Prawn Fritters
• Gado-Gado
• Acar
• Cucumber Jellyfish Salad
• Yam Buttons (Suin Pun Chi)
• Nonya Laksa
• Mee Rebus
• Hing Hua Mee Sua
• Loh Mai Farn (Glutinuous Rice)
• Gomoku Chirashi Sushi
• 7th Heaven Cake
• Tiramisu
• White Radish Cake (Lor Bak Ko)
• Serimuka

Alternatively, you may also purchase this cookbook (while stocks lasts) from my church directly.

Wesley Methodist Church Kuala Lumpur

2, Jalan Wesley

50150 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 60-3-20720338

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

Legacy…recipes to pass to our children

Babe_KL, who is a well known food blogger in Malaysia, cooked the nourishing Black Bean Soup. Being an experienced cook herself, she used the pressure cooker to cook this soup to great effect. Check out her blog for more simple and good food.

Next, the 2nd placed winner is HN who cooked a local favourite, Chicken Rice in Rice Cooker. A domestic adaptation of the ever popular Claypot Chicken Rice, this is one of HN’s favourite “lazy weekend dish”. The picture of the Chicken Rice in Rice Cooker was proudly taken by HN’s hubby. HN gets a 2 month placement of 125x125ad on the sidebar of this site worth $80.

The 3rd placing for this contest is won by The Cooking Momster who made a commendable attempt on one of my wife’s speciality, Mee Suah Kueh. Her family loved it and for a moment, they thought it was Lobak Kueh! The Cooking Momster gets a One month placement on the Featured Blogger Ad on the sidebar.

Full tabulated results after deletion of multiple votes are as follows:-

• [poll id="2" type="result"]

Heartiest Congratulations to all the winners and a word of commendation to all who participated in this very first USD$100 Giveaway! Seeing the positive buzz and excitement created by this contest, I already have in mind another contest which I will be launching in the not too distant future. Watch this space!

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

Results of USD$100 Giveaway Contest

Over the past 10 days, a total of 18 submissions were received for the USD$100 giveaway! I must say that I am quite impressed with the effort put in by those who participated and glad to hear that the recipes turned out well. In fact, some recipes were attempted by more than one participant and some participants submitted more than 1 entry.

The following is the list of participants who are identified by the Entry Numbers. Below the list is the Poll for you to vote on your favourite entry. The system is configured to only accept one vote per reader. For those who have participated, get your family, friends and blog readers to vote for your entry. For those who did not participate, join the fun by voting for your favourite entry.

Entry 1 – Cheese Biscuits by JinHooi of Smell & Taste are my memory

Entry 2 – Asam Ikan Kembung by PureGlutton of PureGlutton (1)

Entry 3 - Black Bean Soup by Babe_KL City of Babe in the city – KL

Entry 4 – Ginger Sauced Chicken by Giddy Tigers of Giddy Tigers

Entry 5 – Sambal Belacan Ladies Fingers by PureGlutton of PureGlutton (2)

Entry 6 – Pumpkin and Luncheon Meat Combo by Tine of Oh for the love of me!

Entry 7 – Yam Rice by Zara’s Mama of My Two Girls

Entry 8 - Japanese Tofu with Minced Pork by Michelle of A New Beginning!

Entry 9 – Mee Suah Kueh by Momster of The Cooking Momster

Entry 10 – Bak Kut Teh by PureGlutton of PureGlutton (3)

Entry 11 – Stuffed Mushroom by Wen of Kiddo’s Realm

Entry 12 – Cheese Biscuits by Anggie of Anggie & Jeremy Boy

Entry 13 – Stewed Chicken in Dark Soya Sauce by Pink Parisian of Have you eaten?

Entry 14 – Chicken Rice cooked in Rice Cooker by Michelle of A new beginning! (2)

Entry 15 – Mee Suah Kueh by FlowerMummy of Flower Mummy Cooking Journey

Entry 16 – Chicken Rice cooked in Rice Cooker by HN of Lazy Weekend Cooking

Entry 17 – Egg Flower Minced Pork Soup by Shelley of Nibbles of Tidbits

Entry 18 – Garlic Hoi Sin Chicken by TummyThoz of Tummy Thoughts

All the best!

Voting will begin now and will end on Midnight (Malaysian time) 7th 9th September, 2008.

Update (02.09.2008 @ 1045hours) : Due to a problem with the polling software used which could not be accessed by IE users, I have installed a new poll software which you can see on the sidebar to your right. I have imported all votes as at 1045hours. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Update (08.09.2008 @ 2310hours) : It has come to my attention that there are instances of multiple voting by clearing of cache. A brief glance at the voting log unfortunately shows that this has been happening. This is despite the rules which state that each voter is only allowed one vote. I will still be keeping the voting open until 2400hours for genuine voters to vote. Thereafter, I will be sifting through the voting log for multiple voting pattern. Results will take some time as I need to verify the 3000 odd votes which came in.

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

Voting for the USD$100 Contest Begins!

Delicious Asian Food has been growing tremendously over the past couple of months and I have noticed more and more people trying out the recipes here with glowing reviews. I must say a big thank you to all of you who have kept coming back and mustering enough courage to try out my humble recipes. You know who you are!

With that in mind, I am launching a contest here with (updated : more than) USD $100 up for grabs! I have never created a contest before and definitely have not given away (more than) USD $100 to anyone online. This is what you need to do and how you can win the USD $100 (or other prizes).

1. Look around this blog for a recipe you like. For starters, you might want to check out all the recipes of Delicious Asian Food.

2. Try that recipe at home – cook and take a picture of it.

3. Then, write about the recipe in your blog and put up the picture of the food you cooked with a reference to where you found the recipe. Hence, only new entries on your blog will be eligible.

4. You must refer to the recipe in its full name and link to the recipe in your post. For example, “I found this Bak Chang recipe from Delicious Asian Food and tried it last night.”

5. You must also refer and link to this post. By doing so, your post will be shown in the pingback below. Contact me or leave a comment here if the pingback does not appear.

6. Contest will close on midnight (Malaysian time) of 31st August, 2008. Thereafter, I will list out all the entries and the entries will be open for voting by readers to choose their favourite entries. Get your friends, relatives or colleagues or whoever to vote for your entry. Updated : You can submit as many entries as you like as long as you observe the rules above.

7. Voting will be open for 1 week.

8. Updated : Prizes are as follows:-

a) The entry which garners the highest votes will win the USD $100 which will be transferred to the winner’s PayPal account.

b) 2nd highest votes will get 2 months’ 125×125 ad placement on this site worth $80.

c) 3rd highest votes will get a 1 month placement on Featured Blogger ad on the sidebar.

In the event of a tie in votes, a second voting process which will run for 48 hours on the tied-entries will be held to determine the winner.

All the best!!

UPDATE : Submissions Closed. Thank You!

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

$100 Up For Grabs!

I was ecstatic to say the least when I noticed some traffic referral coming in from 9Rules blog. Then I remembered that I had submitted this blog for consideration into the 9Rules community during the 24 hour submission period sometime early this month. You see, 9Rules is an exclusive blogging network which only accepts blogs which are of certain (high!) qualities – 9 to be exact. When it dawned on me that this blog has been accepted into this network, you can’t imagine how elated I was (not also to mention that this morning, the feed subscribers have shown an all time high of 422 readers – if you have not subscribed, I urge you to do so. It’s free). Despite the current round of acceptance, there are only 7 Malaysian sites in this network including mine and Hochiak is the only food-related site.

So, what will happen to Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food since it is now admitted into 9Rules? As quality is in essence, you should expect higher quality posts (especially photos) to be featured. You will also notice the beautiful 9Rules leaf logo on this site. Notwithstanding the promotion into 9Rules, I will still remain as friendly as ever to you – my readers. Afterall, it’s your repeat visits which make this venture truly meaningful and exciting.

For those of you who have just arrived here from 9Rules, a big warm welcome to you and I do hope you will feel free to surf around for some useful and delicious asian recipes.

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

This Blog Is Now Officially With 9Rules

Fulfilling indeed is Food Blogging. For those of us who love to cook and blog, it is indeed a fulfilling hobby and I have been enjoying this “double-treat” hobby for the past 1 1/2 years. Of late, this hobby has also been paying off financially in the form of advertisements which appear on this blog. The monthly income from this blog is more than sufficient for me to pay for one whole year’s hosting and blog-related fees (and also subscription to internet broadband at home).

What I have discovered is that apart from the recipes or text in each post, food photography plays an important part in the success of the food blog. Hence, I have been hard at work trying to improve on my food photography lately. If you have a food blog, pay as much attention to your food photography as to your blog contents. As they say, a new reader might fall in love with your blog at first sight!

Going back to advertisements – you will notice that I have this longish vertical advertisement on the sidebar from Foodbuzz. I am honoured to be a Featured Publisher of Foodbuzz as that entitles me to special privileges and earnings from their advertisement network. I am not allowed to reveal the terms of payment by reason of the confidentiality agreement but suffice to say, it is one of the best advertising programmes out there in terms of payout. To sign up, you will need to complete a survey (which I also did) and await their approval. Only food bloggers qualify. If you are a food blogger and have not joined Foodbuzz, you are missing out a lot!

As for me, I think I am really going to enjoy the following months of food blogging and I hope you will enjoy this asian recipe blog too

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

Food Blogging is Fulfilling

This site has undergone a couple of facelifts and I am quite happy with the current look. For 2008, I hope I would be able to afford a customised web site design and to double my subscribers (if you have not subscribed, why don’t you subscribe to this site through RSS or email? It’s free and you will be notified of all the latest posts here). I am also looking forward to putting up some traditional recipes including bak chang and popiah over here. It should be an exciting year ahead. If there are anything you would like to see featured here or any suggestions for this site, do leave me your thoughts at the end of this post.

There are about 80 or so recipes posted in the year 2007 and some of you have been tried some of the recipes and informed me that the recipe works and that you it will feature in your family recipes from then onwards. Some of the recipes are my favourites too and today, I will feature the Best of Delicious Asian Food 2007. Definitely Hochiak!

January

Sambal Ikan Bilis with Tang Hoon

A simple no-frills sambal which is cooked by mum at home quite regularly. Good to serve with plain white rice or as a condiment to nasi lemak.

February

Pork Ribs in Plum Sauce

My very first using of the slow cooker to cook pork ribs without the adding of water. The cooking made the meat so tender that it literally slips off the rib once you place it in your month. An absolutely simple to cook dish and very appetising indeed.

March

Kolok Mee

A famous dish from Sarawak. It has made itself up into the 2nd most popular recipe on this site. Amazingly easy to get the taste right.

April

Pork Leg Hoi Sin Stew

Can be sinfully delicious especially when you consider the melting bits of pork leg. This is one of my mother-in-law’s specialty and it is now enjoyed by a couple of readers across the globe.

May

Ginkgo Barley Dessert with Foo Chuk

A popular dessert in this part of the world and touted to be good for the health. This is one of my wife’s favourite dessert.

June

Ayam Sioh (Chicken in Spicy Tamarind Sauce)

Another one of my in-law’s recipes. The original recipe was to use duck but on that particular day, we made do with chicken as we couldn’t get ourselves a duck. Lilian tried it and she loved it.

July

Loh Mee

A favourite noodle dish of mine since childhood days. This noodle dish is exceptionally appetising due to the use of black vinegar to complement the noodles when serving.

August

Wheat Gluten

A favourite item used in vegetarian cooking, the recipe for Wheat Gluten was shared by our neighbour in Kuching many years back. Great when added to mixed vegetable dishes.

September

Kuih Lapis

One of my favourite cakes from the Indo-Malay region. Said to have originated from Indonesia, this cake can now be found sold in Malaysia. My mother-in-law learnt this recipe from an Indonesian and I honestly attest to its deliciousness

October

Pineapple Tarts

My all time favourite cookie. Again, I must confess that these pineapple tarts which my mother-in-law bakes are simply out of this world. Grab her recipe here and try it out.

November

Stir Fried Fish Slices with Ginger and Spring Onions

This is a commonly found dish in many chinese restaurants in Malaysia. A simple dish with the use of minimal ingredients. Guaranteed to make you ask for 2nd helpings of rice.

December

Chinese Stewed Duck

To close of this year, it has to be the chinese stewed duck which was the most recent recipe posted.

Special Mention

Chinese Roast Pork

This recipe is the most popular recipe on this site. Just look at the picture. Need I say more?

There you go. The Best of Delicious Asian Food 2007. A Happy New Year to You and Your Family! Bon appetit!

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

The Best of Delicious Asian Food 2007

The first to submit was Jo, the author of *~Riceballz~*. She shared her family recipe for Bak Chang (triangular shaped rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves). It is not a recipe for beginners and it can be a labourious task making these but the effort usually pays off when you dig into these lovely dumplings.

The next to submit was Takfenglili of Life is Beautiful; Life is Love. Takfenglili generously shared with me their (yes, Takfenglili is actually Tak Feng and Lili) recipe for Chai Kueh which is Vegetable Rice Noodle. A mixture of vegetable and prawns are wrapped in a rice noodle sheet before steaming to make this delicious looking parcel. Great for afternoon tea, I must say.

Finally, Elaine of A Series of Kitchen Experiments came up with her recipe for oblong looking Har Gows (Shrimp Dumplings) which is a favourite in Dim Sum restaurants. Reading the recipe makes one realise that these dainty treats take lots of effort to make. No wonder they are so delicious!

Browse through more recipes of mine at the All Recipes page.

The Delicious Asian Food Fest Highlights