Monday, August 30, 2010

THE MOST RECOMMENDED PLACE TO VISIT IN KUCHING


The Kuching Orchids Park


Big red orchids found in Kuching Orchids Park


Written by Mrs. Money
This is the most recommended place to visit in Kuching, choose a cloudy day to take a walk around the orchids park. It will bring you certain inspiration to design your own home garden or bring along a camera to take photos for your kids and family with definitely fanstatic colorful background.
However, I won't advise you to jog there, as I suspected those orchirds were sprayed periodically with insecticides and pesticides. Bring a mask if you are allergic to chemical smell!
This is a garden pretty enough to impress Hollywood and international celebrities! Kuching folks should feel proud of it and whoever help to mastermind and design it should be applaused.



How the small yellow species orchid being mounted to grow on a dead tree and its branches.
One of the most beautiful landscape in Kuching city, good for taking wedding photos


One of the decorating pieces upon entrace hall


Beautiful big bright orchids often used for a bride's bouquet.



Wild orchids and parasitic plants grow on a massive fruit tree


Another good idea of where to plant orchid plants but won't take up too much space


Pink Orchid Pink Orchid Every Morning You Greet Me!


Red number!


For show, I think this is not a nice species to plant in your house unless you have a vast garden


Small pink orchids, more green than pink, I won't plant this species in my little home garden but it is another perfect piece in Kuching Orchid Garden

A rotten tree trunk being hanged with orchid plants on it! Simply creative.I am thinking of designed a round number with orchid plants mounted on it but windchimes hanged on its bottom! Orchid wind chimes with pitch!

This is a nice red number

Actually orchids garden is not that hot due to the netting camouflaged direct sunlight.


Assorted numbers



Sunday, August 29, 2010

IS IT A BATHROOM OR A SWIMMING POOL?


Never design your shower door to open outwards!
Written by Mrs. Money




After I returned from JB, I asked Mr. Money, “Can you tell me what went wrong with the nicely designed walk-in wardrobe suite attached to bathroom in Pulai Spring apartment?”

He replied me, “Nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong? You never noticed that there was something wrong once you emerged from shower?”

“What’s wrong?” Aye! What a typical China man!

“The tempered glass shower door full of water droplets opened outwards thus caused water droplets leaking directly to the bathroom floor. Did you notice the floor of the toilet was always wet unless we didn’t take shower?!”

There are many architects and interior designers, but why some are much more famous than the others? I am so glad Mr. Money is not an architect or interior designer!

Architects and interior designers must be very sensitive, possess inert alertness realized quickly what went wrong with one of their own designs or drawings, even a little detail like bathroom door opened outwards or inwards should be considered carefully, what is feasible and what is not feasible to their designs.

Little bad designs actually caused high maintaining fees and could cost a lot of money for renovation too.

Imagine if most occupants would use few towels or toilet papers drying the wet toilet floor or some of the occupants would walk out directly from the bathroom with wet feet to the carpeted floor! Unsatisfied occupants and wastage of toilet papers or tissue papers left a mess to cleaning ladies to handle. Just imagine how dirty those floor mat and towels found both on the wet toilet floor!

MY SON BECOMES A BULLIED VICTIM IN SCHOOL


The bully especially likes to pick on my son according to his classmates,
is it all because he has a nice mom who didn't scold the bully or because he never told me he got bullied in school?

On June he told me his dirty knees were due to crawling in his classroom, I wonder now should I believe him!

Written by Mrs. Money



My son’s Qdees nursery teacher cautioned me last Thursday as she thought the bullied situation got worsen, she learned it all the while from my son's classmates that my son was badly bullied often in class by a particular fat boy called Aaron, in this particular day she found my son crying loudly complaining of pains on his leg, she told me his both arms up to ankles and both legs up to his knees were dirty.

“This is not the first time happened to him, last time when I found Aaron pushed him, I warned Aaron but he gave me a cheeky challenged mocking smile.”

In the evening, I had to keep asking until my son eventually he told me, “Aaron also pulled my hair during music lesson.”

Mr. Money got so angry when I told him, he told me, “Why don’t you go to pull his hair tomorrow morning too? I only have a son, if he got pushed by the bully and if one of his bones got broken and become handicapped so how? You better go to solve this problem first thing in the morning!”

Early morning when I reached school, one of Mr. Money's friend told me the bully also always bullied his daughter until one day he gave the bully a warning sign. Then I asked one of my son’s classmates 24-siew mom, she told me easily and haughtily with the corner of her eye staring at me, (I am very sure her kid’s result must be a lot better than my son), “Yes, I saw Aaron grasped your son and then push him until he fell.”
Why no adult presented there helping to stop such bullying incident, was it all because the victim was not their daughter or son? Do these parents know that if my son ankles cap got broken, he won’t be able to walk for the rest of his life! Well obviously, it will never happen to their kids then!

I was told that this Aaron bullied almost everyone in the class, on April he pushed my son until his back got injured, I didn’t report to the school authority because I just wanted to make a peace talk to Aaron who knew that he can’t be easily brided.
I remember a day on May, I saw him waiting outside the school gate 30 minutes after school, I gave him a piece of cookie, “Aaron, you need aunty’s help? Where is your mom?”
“Don’t know! When I called her, she told me ‘fuck you’!”

When I asked around, more revealed, my son’s classmates would tell me, “Aaron would walk to Exxx’s seat and all a sudden gave him a pinch.”
“Aaron likes to pull Exxx’s hair.”
“Did teacher say anything?”
“Teacher just caressed Exxx’s hair.”

So luckily I was quite late when I reached my son’s school, I decided to see his discipline teacher. She told me education department won’t allow any parent to approach the bully, neither any parent is allowed to approach the bully’s parent. So I was glad that I didn’t manage to “talk” or “warn” the bully.

I was told by the assistant principal and the discipline teacher that sometimes bully might instead go back home telling his parents another way round saying that my son bullied him. So it happened that my husband friend’s daughter also got bullied by another bully-girl, after the bully-girl got scolded by the teacher, she would ask for sick leave to return home earlier, same to this boy, on Friday I went to school at 11:30am but found the bully-boy missing, they told me he left earlier due to stomach ach! (Right after got scolded by the assistant principal).
Bullies are definitely also the hoaxers!

Again, the 24-siew mom saw me; she asked me, “Are you working?” “No”
“Then you should pick up your son after school?” She said in a condemned manner.
I didn’t tell her that I do work, but working on my future work. Writing a book? Like the rest of people, they would hiss me off that I am just dreaming to become JK Rowling or discussing and laughing at my back with their friends together. I learned from different lessons to get smart with mean women!
“You know if anything happen to my son, my husband will divorce me, this is my only son do you know that?!” I enjoyed seeing snobbish women who didn’t know how to hide their obviously snobbish and snubbing facial expressions!

My son learns the bully’s trick in school, in school he never dared to retaliate physically (or else those witnessed classmates and parents would inform me how bloody naughty was my son) so at home he used the same tricks to bully his sister, “Revenge on your own sister? Stupid, why don’t you bite Aaron when you got bullied by him? Instead you just kept quiet and didn’t do anything!” Luckily in school, he didn’t bite or do anything to the bully in return, or else the biting mark evident would make my son an indirect culprit to grant those hoaxers' wish.

The school life is a mirror, when my son returns home it reflected, now I know why he enjoyed his kindergarten school life but no more his primary school life, his abrupt change of personality indirectly hurt me, he used to be very hard working boy, very keen in learning new things and meticulous in his writing and works, but since last year he started attending primary school he started becaming so lazy and messy. Mr. Money insisted his son to stay in Chinese primary school, we have been arguing the matter for a long time non-stop, but I am just a jobless taitai now, I have voice but can’t hear any coins jingling sound so he won it but he never realizes that his son’s English is getting poorer, BM is poor and Mandarin is also poor, will grow up same like both of his parents!

When one’s child got bullied in young age, parents should pay attention, but if bully matter persists on to secondary school, this shouldn’t be allowed, I myself witnessed five girls who got bullied during their teenage years all became abnormal and they all ended up fat due to taking depression medications and jobless at home, semi crazy and semi normal! Their moms told me the same thing and sourly they revealed to me, “When she returned home told me she was bullied by her classmates, I just ignored it. I thought it was just kids’ game. It’s all too late the minute I found out she already got crazy! She was one of the top student when she was young and when the bullied incidents happening, her school results was never good from that onwards!”

Hormone change happened on teenage years, parents should pay attention on their kids' mental well beings.
I got bullied when I was in primary school too, I was a very innocent girl, I needed friends, I was insecure and very immature compared to other kids. (On day my son’s classmate asked me, “Exxx gave me a new pen yesterday; my dad asked me to tell you should I take it?” So my son wanted friends by giving gift!). Like mommy like son, I can’t sleep tonight, you know why? Because I am really worried if Aaron’s dad will come tomorrow to school scolding my son, I don’t want my son grows up ending up in asylum or got locked up at home like those half crazy poor young ladies that I know of and all because their parents didn’t pay attention when they got bullied. Who can stand being bullied five days a week in school by their classmates or schoolmates and that went on forever for at least 4 to 5 years!
These mothers actually don’t like their Ba Po friends to know they have an abnormal daughter at home, but my last profession got me to encounter these seriously “mentally invalid” bullied victims. I learned that their parents have spent so much money to "cure" these victims but they never got improved, anti-depression medications actually made them fat, slow and lazy. My last advice to those victims is to go see a hynotize specialist.

Monday, August 16, 2010

A DIARY OF RED SUGAR APPLE PLANT


A surprise for me when red sweetsop emergedRed Skin Sugar Apple



Written by Mrs. Money
I bought the seedling for only RM5.00 (less than US$2.00) and it really gave me a surprise when the skin turned out to be in red. The fruits were so sweet and smelt really good, I just love this little small tree, it reminded me of my happy childhood days but old days sugar apples in old home were green skin species.


I bought it last year end

A surprise for me when it produced two fruits in red!

Not sour at all! August 2010

HARVESTING OF TAPIOCA (UBI KAYU)


these are yellow ubi kayu



Written by Mrs. Money

As big as my arm



Chop off the tapioca from the bottom. It took four months to harvest. If I want to plant ubi kayu again, I just need to cut a part of the stem, I was advised to insert the stems a bit slender to the soil enabling more tubes produced, I was advised not to insert the stems into the soil the other way round (upside down) to get toxic tapioca



Tapioca leaves



Topica plants, I planted four only



Tapioca leaf



Yellow species got white inner skin, white species got pinky inner skin. This skin is poison, must get rid of skin before preparing ubi kayu


How ubi kayu look like after poison skin got rid off.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

PREPARING PERSIAN HERBAL STEW AT HOME IN KUCHING



as you can't find Ghormeh Sabzi in any restaurant of this city


Ghormeh Sabzi


Written by Mrs. Money




Sometimes ones preferred to forget about unpleasant people they once encountered, surprisingly only good foods introduced by them are much appreciated!



Soak your red kidney peas


Finely chop your fresh herbs available: Parsley, cilandro, chives, spring onion and fenugreek leaves (you can plant fenugreek or hulba by sowing the seeds that you bought from any Kuching downtown Indian store)
Beef cut into cubes


Use your big onion and garlic (o ouuop.. my big onion ran out)

We are very lucky to get this fresh round species of lemon right here in Kuching. You can dry this kind of round lemon inside your car. (You must use more dried lemon to prepare this dish)
Fry the onion, garlic with oil and salt until brownish
Add chopped herbs to fry until drying and releasing pleasing aroma

Just add a fresh round lemon, add beef saute a while before adding red kidney peas and boiled water. Leave it stew under low fire until beef and peas get softer. Add a dash of black pepper powder before turn off the fire and serve with saffron basmati rice.



Wednesday, August 11, 2010

WHEN THE BETTER ONE COMES ALONG
... and you tango along, whose faults?


Written by Mrs. Money




PART 1


Many years ago, there was a group of “unwanted poor old ugly bachelor dogs” that worried their old folks and siblings of how to look for their future DIL and SIL (daughters-in-law and sisters-in-law).

Eventually they all got married either by match-making by their respective parents or siblings, usually under this kind of arrangement these men were not getting their perfect matches but very sarcastically they would also find those “as equally unwanted women” who were willing to get married, bear kids and form a family together with them.

When a man couldn’t find his perfect soul partner, to avoid having his emotional being too involved and invested in an imperfect wife, to find the best solution and escape thus his works would become his "passionate girlfriend." Making many babies (must produce many boys descendent only as these men usually are China men!) were merely to please his parents and siblings, he would seldom pay genuine attention and love to his wife, by then his purpose of dragging on the marriage relationship was because of those good looking perfect children with his imperfect wife. He would never give extra expenses to his out-of-date wife to buy new dress and go beauty saloon, his wife usually works in a boring, limited income and very stressful job like teaching, doing account or working as a clerk in a China man office in-charged ranging from cleaning toilet to booking air-ticket to her boss wife’s sisters and friends.

The poor lady reached home never got the chance to see her hubby but merely naughty screaming kids messing up the whole house, and by the time their greatest mom in the world enter the door, they would request the tired mom from buying kites to bicycles, she usually would ignore them but went ahead preparing her dinner, after an hour later, she found out her kids were not interested to eat her prepared foods, instead they would request and nag on and on to eat pizza. By the time when kids almost finished their dinner under “threats” and “sweet talks”, finally her hubby returned home. The minute he sat on the dinning table, he just simply made a simple remark that could finally erupt a very active volcano. She growled, “I work, you work, but I still have to work when I reach home …..”

He would all the time silently withdraw but thinking in retaliation to his imperfect wife, “I work, you work? Depend on your little yearly salary? …. Which is a peanut less than even my monthly salary but I feed the family!” After dinner he would find an excuse to get out of the noisiest house in the whole world, because he thought that when he was young, his mom never dared to rebuke even his irresponsible dad. He would usually find pubs a haven to cool down hot weather, hot arguments and his “boiling point” temper, he would drink until his wife slept then he crept home at 2 in the morning half drunk.

Somehow first itchy seventh year had passed smoothly under his silent disgruntled but followed by his increasing quietness and withdrawal, his grumbled wife got more angry and felt more ignored, she felt she had already voiced out her disagreements and disappointment of had to responsible parenting alone, yet with her he simply was not interested to get involved.

It all began when the ugly old married men got loaded of $ notes finally but also he had metamorphosized without his wife’s awareness into a confident mature man, to show that he was loaded, he began driving a posh car, playing golf, drinking generously with friends in pubs. Soon on second itchy seventh year, several times in different pubs he encountered a same acquaintance, finally they sat together this time to chat merely as friends, after a dozen of beers, each one of them lashed out their personal problems and reached an understanding and compromising.

When the better one comes along or “a perfect” partner comes along, the man would treasure the relationship, he won’t care if she was married, divorced or having her own kids with her first marriage. Wherever he went he would bring her along his side, she became his soul mate.

Under this situation, his friends’ first wife club members all questioned silently if his behavior was “politically correct”, probably he was hiding this “better one who comes along” for a while already before they both finally confidently “floated” on the water.

Let’s discuss:

What kind of “better one comes along” kind-hearted woman would dare to (no matter if you are a spinster, divorced or divorced with kids) involve in a married man to cause him further on separated with his “imperfect” wife and endangered the marriage?

Should the man divorced his “imperfect” wife before thinking of even taking a glance of those better ones come along his routes? Taking a mistress or a better one along would spoil his good man image, no matter how he explained to his friends how fierce, how unreasonable or how thoughtless was his wife treating him. Usually only the man’s old friends would accept his explanations believing that his first wife is really a “witch” but for the first wife club members who gone through up and down with the grown up naughty children would not agree that with a man who simply not involving much for parenting his kids during their grown up years. Simple theory: Or else he wouldn’t have time to go out drinking or rather hidden in office to work late. Nasty kids turned their mom to a fierce woman not vice versa and an unhelpful husband turned his wife into a bitch not vice versa. Indonesian maids wouldn’t help parenting, a wife would rather her busy and tired millionaire husband time to time helping her to change a nappy for the baby, when the baby kicking while daddy changing nappy, the baby laughed to daddy and daddy had to catch its legs, that is called parenting, 10 Indonesian maids wouldn’t be able to fulfill this kind of parenting job! Many men simply grew up too insensitive of what is called parenting but they thought money could buy everything!

Around a decade ago, I was still not married, there were few married women angrily told me this story: This is one of the most famous man in Sarawak, he would organize a 40th birthday party for his “better one comes along” in an oil town golf club by ONLY inviting MALES, they probably both thought that males wouldn’t gossip, but they were very wrong, because some guests they invited were good family men, they returned home told their uninvited angry wives, the wives in revenge actually blew their trumpets louder!



PART TWO


There was a case happened in a Northern Borneo, a decade ago my friend’s boyfriend went to study in a university. Soon during his birthday, a girl from a gas town who studied with him knew that he already got a girlfriend but she still dared to approach him telling him during his birthday, “I love you!”

My friend got very angry, due to she was very young, she simply dumped him to grant the bitchy girl’s wish.

What kind of man would allow “other girl” to express to him vocally that “she loves him” right in front of his girlfriend?


What kind of girl would be so daring to tell the man she fancied right in front of his girlfriend told him, “I love you!”

However, once the bitchy girl stole my friend’s boyfriend, she would never leave my friend in peace, even the bitchy girl’s sister who worked for me (actually I think she was spying for her sister thus she worked for me) also never left my friend alone, I remember such incidents:

The bitchy girl sister would take a photo of her sister’s boyfriend ex-girlfriend during a wedding to show her sister, soon during a Chinese new year the bitchy girl would wear exactly the same dress, my friend got annoyed so she went to perm her hair, who knew that the bitchy girl also went to perm her hair!

I was simply in awe of the acts of the two equally bitchy sisters, once my friend came to visit me, the bitchy girl’s sister was the only one who worked in the office during lunch time, no matter how many times my friend rang the door bell, no one would came open the door for her, at the end my friend called me to come upstairs opening the office door for her.

Then one day the bitchy girl’s sister dared enough to tell me this, “Your friend is still interested in my sister’s boyfriend!” She didn’t know that actually my friend got a new boyfriend since she broke off with her ex-beau, but I wouldn’t reveal that to her as I wanted to see how ugly girls could turn into when they got jealous and agressive!

I told her flat off that there was no such thing, as I could see that that’s another way round, I could see that the young man was still interested in his talented ex-girlfriend. I waited for her to tell me the same thing for the second time but it never happened, or else I would really tell her off this way, “If a girl dares enough to steal other’s boyfriend, she should be confident enough to keep him instead of kept bothering and giving troubles to his ex-girlfriend!”

A few years later, finally the bitchy got married with her dreamed man, my friend finally found herself another new boy friend who is much more mature man, I think he is a perfect match for her, yet my friend’s ex-boyfriends’ ex-girlfriends all got “excited” and turned into busy bodies, they “kindly” probed into background of my friend’s new boyfriend through the church he attended and they sent someone to tell my friend that the man is not good enough for her!

My last warning to my friend during my last met with her was: Please keep an eye over your boyfriend, let no other bitchy mean girl steals him anymore!”

Where got a mature authorized man who would allow another lady approaching him flirting and tangoing with him when she knew already he got a girlfriend or a wife? If the man would entertain the approaching aggressive girl, he is not a worthy man to keep for the rest of a woman’s life. Set him free then may be a better one would come along her way too, so my friend did a correct way but only regret is she couldn’t get rid of those haunting bitches, I suggested only her new boyfriend’s menacing growls could hush those haunting barks!




NOTE:


It is important for a couple to keep some common reliable good friends who could help them during any crisis.

The surfaced problems regularly complained by one of the couple should be noted instead of being ignored, or else once the better one comes along could steal either one; it takes a very high moral standing to keep a faithful but problematic relationship.

If a couple’s relationship doesn’t work it is better to divorce first before thinking of finding “a better one comes along!” A fragile relationship of a couple is easily broken and intensified by "a better one comes along!"

Many men would think that because of their kids are still young thus they didn’t want to divorce their imperfect wives, in short these men are terribly selfish, they used their wives to take care of the children until they grow older, they ignored their imperfect wives’ emotional well being, but selfishly they invest their emotional well being in another “perfect soul partners”, enjoying their life by bringing the "mistresses" all over the world but left their respective poor wives in the coconut shell taking care of naughty kids. These men thought of the best solution waiting for their kids to grow older before asking for divorce, these men only thought for their kids but not their wives (their wives are their prime enemies!) by the time their wives would be old and ugly, they would never find their new partners in this conservative society, I only foresee a lonely life for the poor divorced women thoroughly used by their heartless hubbies to take care of the offspring only …. I see a picture of some selfish tom cats who only knew “how to propagate” but let alone the parenting job to the mother cats but I admired those necking swans on a stream that got more wisdoms than some human beings!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

HOW TO MAKE AUTHENTIC LEI CHAI: PART II (MOONCAKES AND CORAL GRASS JELLY RECIPE)


A family’s gourmet heirloom all the way from Johore Bahru


Mama Hung's Lei Chai or 'Thunder Tea'





Taught by Mama Hung and Written by Mrs. Money




Additional moon-cakes making procedure that I witnessed in Mama Hung's Chinese restaurant; her moon-cakes was the only one that I ate with peace in mind during every Mid Autumn Festival as Mama Hung used no additives but only the best ingredients. She made them with her loves cum passion and normally only her relatives and friends got such luck to taste her mooncakes.


This exceptional year she made the moon-cakes commercially to sell in her Chinese restaurant, but the quality has not changed, in an actual fact she bought a machine to prepare the lotus paste, she said or else that's the most time comsuming job.







The lotus paste ball covered by a very thin layer of dough




Usually there is either one or two salted egg yolks hidden inside lotus paste ball


The wooden mould used to shape moon-cakes




After lotus paste ball covered by dough ball, pressed it down to the mould, then hit the mould twice on each side, the newly formed moon-cake will be released.



Moon-cakes ready to send baking in the oven

Moon-cake inside the oven



The top has to be glazed by egg york when the baked moon-cakes got a bit cooler.


CORAL GRASS JELLY RECIPE BY MAMA HUNG

Mama Hung's used much freshy wild coral grass from Indonesia



Ingredients: Coral grass, little water, ginger, pandan leaves, gogi berries or longan and gula Melaka
Procedure: Soak the coral grass for at least two hours
Boil water with blended ginger and pandan leaves to get rid of fishy smell, get rid of sendiments.
Add coral grass to boil with the 'perfumed' water, add sugar, gogi berries and longan, put it in a blender to blend until smooth, boil again, make sure it is sticky enough to form jelly.
Store in small containers and leave them in refrigerator.
One of the healthiest desert in the world!

HOW TO MAKE AUTHENTIC LEI CHAI: PART 1
(THUNDER TEA)
A family’s gourmet heirloom all the way from Johore Bahru



Mama Hung's Lei Chai or 'Thunder Tea'


Taught by Mama Hung and Written by Mrs. Money


http://jackson.typepad.com/taiwantiger/2005/07/_hakka_tea_in_m.html

I heard of Mama Hung’s Lei Chai since ages ago, even a typical Foo Chow couple like my parents would appreciate Mama Hung’s Lei Chai. Finally after 4 over years I got a change to step in JB again last weekend for a wedding dinner in Pulai Spring, if a couple could return all the way from Seattle to invite relatives and friends to attend their wedding, of course it wouldn’t be too far for east Malaysians and Taiwanese friends to fly in for such a happy occasion.

In order to learn how to make this Lei Chai, I chose to fly in JB earlier by making my kids played hooky for a day. Mr. Money finally gave me a day off first time in almost eight years to baby-sit the two playful kids and they got good times too for their first time swimming and playing in pool.

Mama Hung owes a very successful and popular Chinese restaurant in Kulai (near Singapore border) with her siblings. The restaurant chef prepares few unique dishes that would attract customers to keep returning there, e.g. Fish with special sauce in lotus leaf (the sauce ingredients is a secret) or fried dao ken spinach etc.

Mama Hung retired from running the restaurant just before her grandkid was born 8 years ago and just recently her very smart daughter would master minded the restaurant during weekend as she works in a Singapore as a banker. But old ginger is always hot, before this Mid Autumn Festival, I was lucky enough even to see how Mama Hung supervised in making her most popular mama Hung’s Moon Cakes, these moon cakes were made without any preservative, very hygienic and with best pure ingredients. For their few decades operated Chinese restaurant, this is the first time Moon Cakes are being introduced to their customers.

Mama Hung also taught me the ultimate secret spices to add in satay sauce, I was told to grind the fried coriander and fennel seeds to powder.

She told me that to make Lei Chai it is up to an individual’s taste, for an example, if ones like celery, they can add it in but if ones don’t like it then they can just omit it.

Here I specially thank Mama Hung for teaching me how to make Lei Chai and other secret tips of cooking.



Note: Always can add optional ingredients like pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds (Taiwanese version used lots of nuts), fresh beans and vegetables of all different colours. In option, some people would prefer to cook the rice together with pandan leaves. Mama Hung told me in old days they would make You Fun (Greasy Rice) for Lei Chai, the rice would be fried with pork fat right before steaming.



To prepare Lei Chai soup, these are the necessary herbs
(in option also can add shiso, Giaw Gu Lan or fresh tea leaves)

Chinese-Malaysia called this herb as 'Fake Cilandro', it smells like cilandro.


Bitter herb: Ku Lik Sim



Peppermint


Ai leaves


Basils


Indian mint


Fennel leaves




The following vegetables (you can add or omit in any other vegetables) would be fried with garlic and oil to enhance flavour
(for vegetarians they would always omitt garlic and onion)


'Money Chai'


Cabbage


Beans




Cut all vegetables finely, fry quickly with oil, garlic and salt



Chopped the herbs finely preparing to grind into paste


After saute vegetables


Put herbs, fried sesame seeds, fried peanuts, fried black pepper corns, fried ikan bilis and water to blender preparing Rei Chai paste


Tasty Rei Chai herbal paste


Finely chopped fried shrimp with dried minced daikon (dried minced white carrot), fried smaller peanuts but make sure got rid of skin (smell better)


Fried tofu cubes

Chopped dried daikon

Add oil and garlic to fry minced dried daikon and finely chopped dried prawns


Add more water to the paste, preparing boiled hot soup (some people would steam the soup)


Before adding herbal soup: Put rice, vegetables, beans, peanuts, tofu cubes, dried minced prawns, dried minced daikon in a bowl.


My sister would hide her rice underneath

After adding herbal soup, here it came Mama Hung's Lei Chai, simply Yummy!