Building your own Subway

We managed to create our own Subway this week. No, it is not an underground tunnel to connect us to KLCC or a tunnel to smuggle in humans from Thailand or Indonesia.

After a few trips to the Subway restaurant which just opened near our home, we decided to save some money and make our own Subway sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches! Not underground tunnel crossings..

At first , we had to find the six inch bread and all the ingredients needed. After 4 hours and 2 supermarkets, we settled for a wholemeal bread from Carrefour. It was not a bit like the Subway bread but it will do. Finding the fresh vegetables for the salad was easy. Next we had to look for the zucchini and olive pickles. Found the olives at Jusco but no zucchini.

At Subway, there are 6 types of dressing available, so we hunted the supermarket aisles for mustard, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar and chilli sauce.

As for the meat filling, we were lucky to find that a few local chicken processing factories have come up with chicken luncheon meat that is not too salty and quite cheap too.

At home, Zaty assembled the ingredients and prepared the sandwich ala Subway. Our version of Subway sandwiches did not let us down.

The ingredients that we bought lasted for a whole week of healthy sandwiches. The same amount of money would have been enough for just one trip to the Subway restaurant.

We have also added tuna to our sandwich menu. Our next trip will be to the Cold Storage supermarket to look for authentic mustard sauce and salad dressings.

Salted Egg and Peanut Porridge

Bubur Lambok is a Malay porridge. Today's porridge is based on a Chinese recipe.

Ingredients:
300 g rice
20 dried oysters, steep in water for 1 hour. Use other dried sea shells if not available
100 g skinned peanuts, pan roasted in 1 tablespoon sesame oil over gentle heat
1 chicken soup cube

2 salted eggs, hard boiled separately and remove skin
1 tablespoon ginger strips
salt and pepper to taste
water
spring onions, Chinese celery or cilantro, shredded

Method:

Bring to the boil the rice, stock cube, ginger and oysters with enough water for a consistency of a soft porridge.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with quartered boiled salted egg, peanuts and shredded vegetables.

Bubur Lambok

Bubur Lambok is now a national favorite in Malaysia especially during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Some mosques prepare the porridge every day in Ramadan and give it out to members of the congregation after every Asar prayers. In Kuala Lumpur, the bubur lambok at Masjid Kampong Baru is well known for the long queues to bring home its delicious porridge.

Actually, eating the bubur lambok or any porridge soothes the stomach after the day long abstinence from food. Beside being a balanced meal, the hot porridge rids the stomach of any gas that may have accumulated during the fasting hours.

Ingredients for bubur lambok:


1 1/2 cups rice
8 cups water
3-4 cups coconut milk
80g dried shrimps
2 cm ginger, sliced finely
150 g beef/chicken
100 g roasted peanuts
1/2 cup preserved radish (lobak masin) and/or 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 teaspoon white pepper
salt to taste
spring onion and Chinese celery (daun sup) for garnish

Method:

Dice the meat into small cubes, fry in oil and drain.
Chopped preserved radish or cut into small pieces. Wash and drain the dried shrimps.

Boil rice with water and when it is cooked, add ginger, dried shrimps, pepper, salt and coconut milk, stirring frequently. When the porridge thickens, add in the meat, peanuts and preserved radish and/or mixed vegetables. Stir for a few more minutes before serving hot with the sliced spring onions and Chinese celery garnishing.

Fish and Vegetable Porridge

This fish and vegetable porridge is ideal for people who cannot take salted fish or dried shrimps due to health reasons.

It is also great for women on confinement after childbirth.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1 'bawal putih' or white pomfret
2 cm ginger
1 teaspoon oil
1 small carrot
2 cabbage leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks spring onions

Method:

Remove bones from fish. Slice fish meat and season with salt, pepper and oil. Dice carrot and cabbage. Slice ginger finely.

Boil rice in enough water to form a soft consistency. Normally, 10 times the volume of water compared to the rice is necessary.

When the water boils, slow down the heat. Add ginger strips. When the porridge is cooked, add carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cabbage and fish and cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve after garnishing with sliced spring onions.

Savoury Rice Porridge

I have another rice porridge recipe in my book. It is a simpler one that the one I posted before.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
200g chicken/meat
5 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 cm ginger
1/2 cup fried shrimps
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Dice meat/chicken and boil in a little water. Cook rice with enough water to form a soft consistency.

Pound the shallots, garlic and ginger and fry in 2 tablespoon oil until fragrant. Set aside.

When the rice boils, add meat, the fried ingredients, dried shrimps and peppercorns. Add more water as necessary.

Garnish with fried sliced shallots, garlic, egg omelette strips, cashew nuts and spring onions. Eat the porridge while it is still hot.