Clear Fish Head Mee Hoon (simplified leftover version)

Remember that I packed back the crispy fried fish head from my meal in Oriental Pavilion Jaya 33. Seriously I am not a fan of fish head. I am so a fillet person. But for most Chinese, the fish head apparently is the best part. Something about the soft juicy meat, blah blah blah...sorry I don't get it cos I don't like bones and can't stand to chew and then having to spit out the bones.

Since there was a leftover of a crispy fish head, I came up with a brilliant idea on what to cook with the fish head. FISH HEAD MEE HOON!! I only eat fish head bee hoon outside. Never attempetd to cook it at home. Main reason since I don't eat fish head, why would I buy fish head to cook? When I eat fish head noodle outside, it is more for the soup than the fish. Yeah yeah...I am a bit weird but I like what I like, can't change now.

I had the whole crispy fish head and even some of the fillet meat leftover. So, all I need now is to make the soup base.

It's simple as always. I sliced one tomato, some preserved salty vegetable and a bit of sliced ginger. Ginger is to remove the fishy smell out of the fish. And all I did was to put these ingredient and the fish head into a pot of water and just let it boil.

Let it boil for about 15-20 mins. Once fragrant, just add a bit of salt for taste. Pour the soup over cooked mee-hoon (vermicelli), place the fillets on top and there you have it. Simple and easy clear fish head mee-hoon. Best of all I did not have to cook the fish :)

This purple thing called Brinjal

Not familiar with brinjal, well, you may know it as eggplant or aubergine.

I must confess I have never cooked brinjal in my life. Infact, I did not even eat brinjal until a few years ago. I have to thank Esquire Kitchen - a chain of restaurants in Malaysia for my discovery of how tasty this purple vegetable is.



This is the first time I cooked brinjal, and I came up with a simple recipe, imaging exactly how Esquire Kitchen would have cooked up this dish. This is my version.

Simple ingredients :-

1. Minced meat 500gm - marinade with salt, pepper, soy sauce and some corn starch.
2. Brinjals - 2 large pieces - cut in slices.
3. Others - Oil (2TBSP) Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce (all "agak-agak" (guess work) to your liking LOL - thats Chinese cooking!!)



Simple steps : -

1) In a non stick pan with a little oil, put in the brinjals flat on the surface. Let it stir-fry till slighty brown. Turn the brinjals so that all sides touch the fire. Alternatively, you can add more oil and just fry it for 1 minute and remove quickly. I usually like to do the less oil version, consoling myself it is healthier :)



Once the brinjals are cooked and slightly brown, remove and keep aside.

2) Next is the minced meat, with a little heated oil, you can start to fry some sliced shallots till fragrant, add the minced meat and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add water for it to boil with a dash of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. When boiling, add some corn starch to thicken the sauce.

3) Then, add the brinjals in and stir-fry for 5 minutes. The brinjals will soak in all the goodness of the minced meat sauce.

That's it...ready to eat! Yum Yum! Simple and Easy!

Oriental Pavilion at PJ Seksyen 13 (Jaya 33)

I must say that the dishes in Chinese restaurants have improved tremendously from innovative presentations to the whole fusion of east meets west specialties fused with traditional Chinese dishes.

This is even more apparent when you go to slightly "more" expensive Chinese restaurants. The chefs at these restaurants definitely will have some specialty of their own.

Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33 is fast becoming one of the best Chinese restaurant in Petaling Jaya. They used to be located at Jaya Supermarket but moved to Jaya 33 to a much better and classy looking location. Eating there is considered a special luxury when I feel like splurging a bit on food. Just can't afford expensive Chinese food too often unless special occasions like mom's birthday.

Let me introduce 2 interesting dishes. Firstly, Deep Fried Fish with Wasabi Mayo



When I first heard of this dish, "wasabi mayo"??!!! I was rather reluctant to order as I just could not imagine wasabi, mayo and fried fish together. The restaurant's captain highly recommended the dish and what more it was on promotion (with Citibank card), I went for it!!

The dish came nicely plated. With a huge fish head fried to crispy perfection and all the fillet cut in cubes, deep fried and covered in the wasabi mayo sauce and not forgetting the cubes of honey dew mixed together for the sweet savoury taste. We were ready to dig in.

The verdict - Hmmmm... the blending of wasabi and mayo was done just right. If you don't like wasabi, it's fine, the taste is not too powering. Infact, it is done really well that you only feel the tinge of wasabi at the end of each bite without you having to pant for water. The whole fish is rather big, definitely more than enough for a group of 3-4 people. We could not finish the fish head, so we packed-back the leftovers. Check out my next post to find out what dish I came up with for the leftover deep fried fish head. :)

The second dish I found super interesting is The Ying and Yang Kailan. You may asked what happened to the leaves of the Kailan. The chef actually shredded the leaves to little strands and guess what - deep fried them and the results - wah lah!!!



You will have cripsy vege leaves at the top with crunchy vege stems blanched with special sauce. The combination - yumyum!



There are more yummylicious food at Oriental Restuarant. To me, it is one of the best "premium" restaurant in PJ. I don't mind paying the price if the food is good.
A must go during me and my mom's birthday. Mainly due to the RM50 birthday voucher that they sent me every year without fail :)


Address :
Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33
Lot 33, No.3,
Jalan Semangat, Seksyen 13,
46100 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.