For the past few weeks I’ve been craving Japanese curry. Whenever my friend do an open house for Hari Raya, he would serve rice with Japanese curry (we studied in a Japanese school hence why it’s very Japanese oriented Raya hehe). So lately I’ve been wanting to try to make one. I read that majority if not all housewives make curry using curry roux which you can buy in store in Japan. Of course you can find recipe to make the curry roux from scratch but it’s just not the same. But what surprised me, and actually disappoint me was that after googling I found out that all of the Japanese curry roux which you can find in Japanese stores are NOT HALAL. Not even ones that claimed to be for vegetarian.
When I went shopping I saw this golden curry roux from S&B, the only curry roux available in Jusco Ipoh. On the package it mentions ‘NO MEAT CONTAINED‘.. at the back it also says “NO MEAT-RELATED PRODUCT CONTAINED‘. So I fgured this is somewhat ‘halal’ to eat, as it has no meat or meat related product in it. I made my first Japanese curry. IT WAS DIVINE. It was so awesome.
But I’m still a bit suspicious about the ingredients. Googling gives me more disappointment because I can’t find any info on this S&B product beside its official website – S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix. True enough that the ingredients do not contain any meat product.
I googled each of the ingredients and was disappointed again to find out that ‘Disodium Inosinate’ CAN be non-halal if derived from animal. From wikipedia, it says:
Disodium inosinate is generally produced from meat or from fish. Alternately, it may be produced from tapioca starch without any animal products involved in the production. Therefore, disodium inosinate may not be suitable for vegans and vegetarians, and in most cases not suitable for observant Jews, Muslims and Hindu, depending on the origin of the product. Like rennet it is normally a non-vegetarian product; only the producer can provide information on the origin although it is in some cases labelled as “vegetarian” in ingredients lists when produced from plant sources
NOOOOOO. :(
Unsatisfied, I decided to email S&B and clarify this once and for all. I don’t wanna stop eating the curry because I love it, and it’s so awesome. Today I got an official reply from S&B.
Dear Ms.Tany
Thank you very much for your message and interest in our products.
I am Hiroki working for S&B FOODS INC as a sales for Southeast of Asia.
Regarding your question, The product does not contain meat or meat-related products as you said, but we don’t have any HALAL certificate.
As for your question, Disodium Inosinate in its ingredients are derived tapioca and sugarcane, NOT animal meat.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any further questions.
Best Regards,
————————— Hiroki Ito (Mr.)
Yay!!
Thank you S&B!
Do you have any idea how happy I am to know this? It sucks that all curry roux are not halal, so I’m very happy to find one that is halal. Sure, it doesn’t have any halal certification, but I’m fine with finding out that none of the ingredients contain non halal product and that disodium inosinate derived from tapioca and sugarcane instead of animal so I can eat in peace now. I love Japanese curry because of the taste and the thickness of it. I don’t like Indian curry that much because it’s runny, and not that fond of malay curry because of the thickness of coconut milk and oil.
No wonder I can’t find any other Japanese curry roux brand in Jusco Ipoh anymore except for S&B.
So yeah, to any Muslims who are suspicious about Japanese curry, you now know that this one is safe to eat. Another one that I heard is halal is ‘Kenko Foods Gourmet Curry‘ though I haven’t found it yet in my city.
PROJECT: RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
When I browse food blogs, I keep reading about red velvet cupcakes. They said it tastes soooo good. Quite recently I went to Cupcake Chic and saw red velvet cupcakes and decided to try. They were right, it was SO GOOD. It’s my new addiction. So I decided to try to find the recipe and make it but never got around to it. Earlier this month I decided I wanna make it as my cream cheese was expiring haha.
I also found my key ingredient. So how did it turn out?
It was a partial success! It was so delicious!
Why it was a partial success? Because the cupcake was a bit too soft. Maybe I overbeat the batter. I did take a bit long to beat them so that could be the reason. If the texture of the cupcake were just a little bit firm and ‘full’, then it would’ve been a complete success! However, I don’t think it was bad for a first try! The cream cheese frosting was a bit too sweet in my recipe, but the sweetness plus a bit sour taste was still so good.
Can’t wait to make it again. Hopefully my updated version will taste even better :D
Wow. I have been abandoning this website for ages! My last update was last March. I have been really busy with stuff – house renovation, finding work and things like that. Now I’m trying my best to get back into blogging about food. I always take pictures when I eat and I always think about what I want to blog here but I ended up not doing it :( I have piles of photos and pending blogs I need to write about but never got around to do it. Well, lately I’ve been into baking and stuff. We renovated our kitchen and now my kitchen is all nice. Because of this, I started to experiment with baking and I’m loving it. So I told to myself, I need to share this in my long abandoned food blog and need to revive this again.
So let’s start!
Chocolate Lava Cake/Molten Lava Cake/Petit Gateau/Moelleux au Chocolat
If you like Domino’s I’m sure you know about their super awesome and super delicious ‘Chocolate Lava Cake‘. It’s my favorite. They did it so well that it became my must-order food whenever I order Domino’s. So today, after craving chocolate for the whole day, I decided to experiment with my own lava cake and the result was surprisingly good!
The recipe is simple. I still need to perfect this though. The first four ramekins turned out gooey.. there was no cake but just gooey chocolate after you try to take the cake out. I think I put way too much butter inside the ramekins. It was still good but the chocolate kind of makes you sick.. too much chocolate is also not that good. I only had some batter left just enough for one last ramekin. I reduced the amount of butter for the ramekin and baked it for 14 minutes instead of 12. And the result?
It actually looked like a cake!!
And I could see the gooey chocolate in the middle so I knew this last experiment worked. So I cut it in half and guess what?
Out came the chocolate goodness oozing like the lava from the volcano!
Yay! My experiment was a success. The chocolate tasted sooooooo good. I definitely would try this again. If you’re interested in trying out this chocolate lava cake, check out this youtube video. This is the simple recipe I tried out.
If you’re a spicy food lover and you’ve never heard of Ayam Penyet (smashed chicken), you’ve been missing out!
I first heard about ayam penyet when I was doing my internship at a production company. Everyone was talking about how good the food is, and how spicy the sambal (chilli) is. They had an Indonesian helper at the office so he probably introduced it. After all that buzz, I decided to try it for myself. Boy, little did I know from that day on, I’d be ayam penyet lover and addict. It’s all about the sambal which is soooo spicy, it’ll sure give you stomach burn for a whole day. Ayam penyet originated from Indonesia and has currently became a huge hit in Kuala Lumpur, with branches popping out here and there.. there’s Ayam Penyet AP, Ayam Penyet Ria etc. I hope they’ll expand the franchise to other states..especially Ipoh.
According to their website, ayam penyet is described as:
Ayam Penyet is a traditional Indonesian cuisine which originates from Surabaya. It is a popular chicken dish where the fresh chicken is specially marinated with various spices and herbs . The meat is then smashed with a wooden headed hammer and deep fried until golden light brown. One of the unique feature in preparing this funny name dish is the art of frying where it is crispy from outside and juicy inside.
I knew they were opening a new branch in KLCC when I saw the sign. when I was attending a very sucky and shitty 1Malaysia1Halal campaign or something at the national mosque few weeks later, I decided to stop by at KLCC and found out they’ve opened the new branch of Ayam penyet Ria at the food court.. boy was I happy. But sad news is, Yoshinoya (my favorite restaurant) has been replaced by almost similar Japanese stall.
During my first visit it was almost lunch hour so KLCC wasn’t packed with people yet. The girl there was very friendly and chatty with my mom. But during my 2nd visit, and 3rd visit, during peak hours, they weren’t quite as friendly and chatty as they were when they first opened. Plus different people too.
Ayam Penyet Set : RM8.80
A set of ayam penyet @ Ayam Penyet AP KLCC consist of rice, ayam penyet (smashed chicken), tempe, fried tofu, and little of greens (cabbage etc).. they ‘sprinkled’ some bread crumbs I assume on the chicken. Of course, the sambal. I love to have extra sambal for super extra spicyness. Be warned to those who can’t stand spicy food, avoid the sambal.. but then again, what’s the point? Their specialty is the sambal. That’s what made ayam penyet famous. The chicken, since it’s smashed, is very,very soft but yummy and crunchy for the skin.
For the KLCC stall, the set also comes with a bowl of soup which is an extra nice surprise because Ayam Penyet Ria or other ayam penyet place I’ve eaten at doesn’t give the soup. So yeah, that’s a nice surprise. If you want soft drinks, it’ll cost RM2.30 each.
Of course, there are a lot of other varieties and not just ayam penyet. You can have beef, fish or any Indonesian delicacies like gado-gado, etc. Trust me, if you love spicy food, you’ll love ayam penyet.
RESTORAN AYAM PENYET AP
Level 2 (Stall 10)
Signature Food Court
Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur http://www.ayampenyet-ap.com
They also have outlets in Subang, Bangi, Sunway, Punchong and are opening more outlets.
Even though it’s like 2 weeks after Halloween already. But that is not going to stop me from blogging about my favorite holiday. Now Halloween in Malaysia is not really celebrated like Americans do. Sure we have some Halloween themed parties at clubs but there’s no trick or treating, no kids would come to your door, and you won’t have to spend a lot on candies, and no house would be decorated with spooky decor, except maybe a few of people. But to compare with a decade ago, people have started to know Halloween better now.
Halloween is my favorite holiday because I love anything spooky or horror related. Each Halloween eve and day I would spend my time with watching horror movies and some Halloween toons on TV (which is a whole day marathon of The Simpson Treehouse of Horror). But this year I decided to spend a little bit on some imported Halloween candies that I bought at Ikano Power Center.
They all ended up costing me around Rm20-RM30 or so. So what did I get? Hmm… Pixy Stix, Bubbaloo bubble gums, Atomic Fireball, Air Heads, Jolly Ranchers hard candies, Wonka Nerds, Gilliam stick candy, Fluffy Stuff cotton candy pops and some Halloween themed lollipops consisting of 5 in a pack of ‘Lots a Spooks’ – A pumpkin, 2 white ghosts and 2 Frankenstein heads …. and a skull lollipop.
Pixy Stix – This is nothing special to me though. It’s basically some tangy sugary powder in straw-like packets and what you do is you just open it, and put it all in your mouth.
Air Heads (Flavor – Green Apple) – Air Heads is normal to me, like a normal chewy candy with green apple flavor. I like the taste though.
Wonka Nerds (Flavor – Lemonade/Wild Cherry) – I haven’t opened up this one, but I’ve tasted Nerds before, and it’s an interesting candy. Small irregular shaped candies that has lots of different flavors. Bigger boxes of Nerds come in 2 different flavors.
Jolly Ranchers – I looooove Jolly Ranchers’ hard candies. When I bought it, it came in a pack of a few of different flavored Jolly Ranchers like watermelon, etc. Sorry I forgot what flavors there are, but I love them.
Bubbaloo Bubble Gums – The red packets is strawberry but I forgot the pink one.. but these are bubble gums with liquid in the center, so when you chew it’ll ‘burst out liquid’ which is quite nice actually.
Fluffy Stuff Lollipop (Flavor – Cotton Candy) – Just like it says, it taste like cotton candy. It’s actually nice, but way sweet.
Gilliam Stick Candy (Flavor – Root Beer) – I picked out root beer flavor but there are quite a few flavors available. It taste like… root beer, lol but I like it.
Lollipops – The skull one tasted like root beer and something sweet.. it’s very nice actually. Too bad it’s a Halloween candy, so when I went back today, it was gone. And the 5 in 1 Lots*a*Spooks lollipops taste very sweet. But it’s cute. It’s actually a gift pack, hence the nicely wrapped package with ribbon and a ‘card’ . Cost about Rm 7-ish at Cold Storage.
Atomic Fireball – HELL IN MOUTH! That’s what I like to call it. It’s a cinnamon hard candy, a jawbreaker. And a word of warning, it’s EXTREMELY HOT. I repeat, EXTREMELY HOT. The moment it was in my mouth, it was kinda sweet and well, cinnamon flavored until about 30 seconds later then my tongue started burning.. then it became hotter and hotter until my tongue became numb. Now, I’ve never heard of Atomic Fireball before so I was expecting the hotness/spicyness would subside soon, and it’ll actually become sweet but nope, half an hour later my tongue was still burning like hell and I had to spit it out, wash my tongue and eat a Jolly rancher. I ended up with stomach discomfort for a while because of the hotnesss. The thing about this candy is that, you can prank people with it. Ask them to pop one in their mouth and watch their reactions ;) A little torture device disguised as a candy.
So that’s my review for some candies/lollipops that I got for Halloween. I’ll be reviewing some more candies soon.
Sinfully Delicious is a food blog owned by a girl who just loves to eat and wants to share all the good Malaysian food photos and reviews with the visitors. All reviews here are based on my own honest, non-biased opinion. Please remember, my taste may not suit your taste. I use Sony Cybershot T1 to take pictures, but most of the time I use my Blackberry Storm2 because I'm lazy to bring a camera with me. Excuse some low quality images.
