German Style Sauerkraut Pork Chops

I tried this recipe out quite a while ago but I never got around to posting it up. Really nice and thick pork chops were on sale at our local grocery store, so we bought a huge pack. I tried making some Hainanese Pork Chops (blogged about it a while back) with about half of the pack and I had three large pieces left over from it. I googled for some pork chop recipes and found this delicious recipe. Since Kevin totally loves sauerkraut (I'm guessing cos he is half German? :P), I decided to try this recipe out. It turned out to be really good, so I'm gonna share it with all of you.

Start off by arranging some apple slices on a large baking dish. Just core some apples and slice them into thin slices. It doesn't really have to be perfect, just make sure that it covers the whole bottom of the pan.
Then, brown your pork chops in a large pan. You can sprinkle on some seasoned salt to give it some taste. You do not have to fully cook the pork chops, just make sure that they are nice and brown. The purpose of this is to give those pork chops some color.
Once they are nicely browned, place them on top of the sliced apples and set them aside.
Now it's time to work on the sauerkraut. Start of by sauteing some onions in a pan.
Next, add in some sauerkraut. You can pretty much buy sauerkraut from any grocery store (usually at the deli section). Then, crack in some black pepper and add in some caraway seeds.
After mixing all of the ingredients together, pour in some apple juice. At this point, some people would add in some applesauce and/or apple slices too. It's totally up to you. Stir everything together and allow it to cook for a bit. Turn off the heat and your sauerkraut topping is done.
Pour the sauerkraut topping over the pork chops. Make sure that you fully cover the chops.
Cover the top of the baking dish with some aluminum foil and pop it into a 350F oven for about an hour. After an hour or so, your pork chops are ready to be served! It's so easy to make, yet so yummy to eat. The pork chops turned out to be really tender and the flavor was just out of this world! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I served the pork chops up with some of the sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. You should try it. Wash that down with a pint of beer and it will feel like Oktoberfest, right in your own dining room!

New Paris Restaurant - PJ, Malaysia

My family back home in Malaysia eats out almost everyday. Both my parents work and ever since my grandmother (she was the one that used to cook for us everyday) passed away more 10 years ago, we have been more or less eating out every day. You can imagine the headache of trying to figure out where to go to for dinner, every evening. There are times when we don't even know where to go to anymore. However, there are a few restaurants that the whole family enjoys eating at and New Paris in SS2 is one of them. In fact, we go there so often, it's like an extension of our kitchen! :P
Paris Restaurant started off as a humble little shack, selling super yummy home cooked dishes and rice. The food was good, the price was affordable and the service was really fast. It soon became really popular and they expanded from that little shack to their current location. Hence the new name - New Paris Restaurant. New Paris today is no longer a humble little shack. In fact, it's far from that. Taking up four shop lots and I believe four stories high, they definitely have come a long way. However, a few things still remain. Their good food and really fast service. They really put a new meaning to 'fast food'. I have no idea how they do it but you can see dishes just coming out from the kitchen at lightning speed! :D Totally amazing.
One of our favorite dishes from New Paris is their Home Made Tofu (RM12 = US$3.90). It is one of their signature dishes and a favorite among their regulars. Silky home made tofu deep fried and then topped with some soy sauce and minced meat. Very very yummy. As a little girl, Ashley would only eat this, whenever we go to New Paris. It was her absolute favorite dish! I believe it is still one of her favorite dishes up til today.
The Chinese believe that in every meal, there must be a balance. A little bit of meat, a little bit of vegetable and a little bit of rice. This is the mandatory vegetable dish. Truthfully, I am not really into vegetables (I am currently trying my best to grow to like them more and more :P). However, I totally love this vegetable dish. Stir Fried Spinach with Garlic (RM9 = US$2.90). A simple but yet flavorful dish. Another family favorite.
Ahhhh another 'must order' whenever we have dinner at New Paris. Their curries totally rock! We would usually order vegetable curry but today, we ordered Fish Curry with Vegetables (RM25 = US$8) instead. Really really good. It comes piping hot in a metal bowl. Large chunks of fish with green beans, eggplant, okra and onions. I could eat this everyday, its so good. All I need is a bowl of rice and some of this curry. That would make me a very happy girl!
Now, this is the main attraction! Deep Fried Pork Knuckles (RM38 = US$12.30) with a side of plum sauce. Check out the crispy skin! It's so so sinfully good. Of course we do not order this everyday (really high in fat content and pretty unhealthy). It's so good, I only wish that we could though. Unless of course we are all looking to get a heart attack from clogged arteries in the near future, this dish is only ordered occasionally as a special treat. I highly recommend this dish and it's one of my all time favorite dishes in New Paris.
Mmmm mmmm mmmmmm, look at all the empty dishes. There are rarely any leftovers whenever we go to New Paris. It's not because their servings are small (on the contrary, actually) but it's because their food is oh so good! Our dinner for 5 people came up to a total of RM102.40 (approx US$33). Not too bad at all, considering that we had a huge serving of pork knuckle and curry fish. Oh I love new Paris, oh yes I do!

New Paris Restaurant - PJ, Malaysia
62-64 Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7955 9180, 7955 0186

Omaha Steaks - Fantastic Feast Promo!

We have been getting tons of mail (both snail mail and email) from Omaha Steaks for the longest time. There is always some sort of promotion going on. Kevin said that his grandparents always ordered their steaks from Omaha Steaks back in the day and he remembered them to be pretty good. He said that we should try ordering from them one of these days but we just never got around to it.We received a brochure in the mail a while back and we thought that it was a pretty good deal. Their Fantastic Feast package was going for only $49.99! Usually, promotion price for Fantastic Feast would be $69.99 (original retail price is $170!) but it was $49.99 this time around! Not only that, you get a few free gifts too. So, we decided to give it a try.

At first, we were wondering how they would ship all that meat to us. We knew that it will come in a huge reusable cooler but we were not sure if the meat would stay frozen and stuff. When our order arrived, we were really pleased to find dry ice in the cooler! So, everything was still nice and frozen. Here's what it looks like inside the cooler.
Check out all the stuff that's inside the cooler! Yes...it was a BIG cooler! :P Everything was nicely packed and labeled in individual boxes. There was also cooking instructions and nutrition labels printed on the boxes. They also included a booklet filled with awesome recipes. :D
Here's all the stuff that's in the Fantastic Feast package. 2 x Stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crab meat, 8 x Gourmet Franks, 4 x Top Sirloin Steaks, 4 x Stuffed Baked Potatoes, 4 x Boneless Pork Chops, 4 x Chicken Breast and 4 x Omaha Steak Burgers. That's a lot of food for $49.99!!

Remember I said earlier that the Fantastic Feast also came with a free gifts? Well, the original package comes with 4 pieces of Omaha Steak Burgers. Omaha Steaks threw in another 4, making it 8 pieces in total! The burgers were awesome actually, we have been grilling them up over the past few weeks.....sooooo good!
We also got a 6 piece cutlery set and a cutting board. A chefs knife, carving knife, boning knife, utility knife, paring knife and a sharpening steel. The knives aren't the best quality knives but hey, they are free! :P Overall, I think that the amount of food that we got was worth the $49.99 (even if they didn't give us the free cutlery set and cutting board :P). Yes, the portion were kinda small but taking that into consideration, I felt that it was still worth it. We will be keeping our eyes out for more Omaha Steaks deals in the future!

Marmalade Glazed Pork Chops

I found some nice looking pork chops on sale at our local grocery store the other day. Instead of cooking up those pork chops the way that I usually would, I thought that I would search the Internet for something new to try. I came upon quite a few "Marmalade Glazed Pork Chops" recipes, so I decided to combine all of them together and came up with this. It turned out to be really yummy, so I figured I should share it with all of you.

Start off by marinating the pork chops. I just sprinkled on some Lawry's Seasoned Salt on the chops and placed them in a Ziploc bag to marinade overnight. If you don't really have time, you can just marinade them for about an hour or two. It should work too. The next step is to brown the chops. All you need to do is pan fry the chops on high heat in a frying pan for a bit. You do not need to cook through, we just need to give them some color.

While the pork chops are browning in the frying pan, line a baking dish with some orange slices.

Once the pork chops are nicely browned, place them in the baking dish, on top of the orange slices. At this point, the pork chops should look nice and brown on the outside but is still raw/semi raw in the inside. Set it aside and return to the frying pan.

Now it's time to deglaze the pan. We want to save all the caramelized yummy stuff that is stuck on the pan when we were browning the pork chops. Just pour in some orange juice into the pan. I can't really tell you how much OJ I used cause I just eyeballed it. Just enough to deglaze the pan.

Stir the orange juice with a spatula, making sure that you get all the caramelized stuff off the pan.

Then, add in a few big tablespoons of marmalade. Stir in the marmalade and allow it to cook for a little. Once it starts to get bubbly, turn off the heat and your glaze is done.

Once the glaze is done, it's time to put everything together. Just spread on the glaze onto pork chops that is already in the baking dish. If you like, you can pour in some orange juice into the bottom of the pan. This is to help give moisture when it's baking in the oven, so that the pork chops will remain nice and juicy.

Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and pop it into a 350F preheated oven for about 40 minutes. Certain ovens might take longer while some might take shorter. You would just have to check every once in a while, after it has been in the oven for over half an hour.

There you go! The piping hot and juicy Marmalade Glazed Pork Chops, freshly out from the oven. Since orange and pork goes pretty well with Oriental side dishes, I served the pork chops with some flavored rice and some stir fried baby bok choi. Another yummy, quick and hassle free dinner for the Podanys!

Famous Dave's - Times Square, NYC

My good friend Chai Yuet came to visit NYC over the Memorial Day weekend. After so many years in the States, it's hard to believe that it was her first trip to NYC. Her friend Kheng Leng was also in town, on his way home to Malaysia, after spending about a week in Houston working. So, we picked them up at the airport and spent the whole day taking them to various tourist spots around town. I will blog about that later on. Anyways, it was dinner time and we were in Times Square. Now, apart from it being a long holiday weekend, it was also Fleet Week and Times Square was just packed with people! We tried getting a table at Planet Hollywood but we were told that the wait was about an hour. No way were we gonna wait that long. We knew that it will be almost impossible to get a table on the main strip, so we tried one of the smaller streets off Times Square and found Famous Dave's!

Now, I've always wanted to try Famous Dave's (heard a lot of good things about that place) and it looked like it was a good day to do so. Many people have raved that they have the best Southern BBQ ever, with award winning sauces and slow cooked pit meat. Since it wasn't located on the main Times Square strip, it wasn't full at all and we managed to get a table the moment we walked in.

The restaurant itself was pretty big, with a huge bar as well as some tables on the ground floor and more booths and tables on the second floor. Our server brought us to one of the booths on the second floor. Just right next to us was a big display of all the awards and trophies that Famous Dave's won over the years for their BBQ. Wow, with so many awards and trophies, I bet we were going to to have an awesome dinner that night.

Both Kevin and I started off the night with some icy cold Sweet Tea. This, after all was a Southern BBQ place, so of course we had to order some Sweet Tea. I believe Kheng Leng had some Lemonade and CY was fine with just water.

Apart from their mouth watering BBQ, Famous Dave's is famous for their sauces! Check out the whole line up. We got CY to try the Devil's Spit and initially she said it wasn't all that hot. After a while, the heat started to build up and Woowee! It was hot!! She said it was hot but goood. You could also buy their famous sauces from the gift shop downstairs.

CY ordered the Barbeque Chicken Sandwich ($13.99). Moist hand pulled chicken tossed in BBQ sauce and topped with melted Jack cheese on a bun. Doesn't it look yummy? It comes with a pickle spear. She added on a side of creamy coleslaw for $1.50. I asked her if the sandwich was any good and she said that seriously, it was the best BBQ Chicken Sandwich she has ever eaten. Wow! You know what? I believe her, since she finished everything on her plate. It must be realllly good!

Kheng Leng ordered the Georgia Chopped Pork ($19.99). The BBQ slathered pork is smoked over sweet hickory fire for up to 8 hours and then chopped to order. It comes with corn bread muffin, corn on cob and two sides. He chose some mashed sweet potatoes and wedges for his side. He said that it tasted good overall but certain parts of the meat is a tad bit dry.

Since we knew that the portions will be huge, Kevin and I decided to share an appetizer and one main meal. We ordered one dozen of their award winning chicken wings ($12.99), tossed in their Rich and Sassy BBQ sauce. Now I know why they won so many awards for this wings. They were soo mmmm mmm good! Not only were they large, they were really juicy too. The sauce? Oh, don't get me started on the sauce. It was very very very good!

Apart from the wings, I read somewhere that their ribs won many awards too. Sooo, we just had to try them! We shared the Halvin' My Baby, Half Slab ($22.99). It was half a slab of baby back ribs served with corn bread muffin, corn on a cob and two sides. We tried the potato salad and cream spinach. We had an option of how we wanted our slow cooked baby back ribs. We can either have the Original, which is baby backs seasoned with their four alarm rib rub and then sauced with their honeyed Sweet & Zesty or Memphis style - baby backs rubbed with their secret recipe of herbs and spices, and then served naked (with no sauce). We went with the Original. Were they good? Hmm, don't get me wrong, they were good ribs. However, I feel that it didn't really live up to all the hype that comes along with Famous Dave's award winning ribs. They were good but not spectacular. Overall, it was a good meal. We had a great time just hanging out and catching up with CY as well as getting to know Kheng Leng better. The total bill come up to around $85, not too bad for a meal for four people, in Times Square. Nice ambiance, good food and great friends...what more could a person ask for? :D

Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que
171 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036-1503
Tel: (212) 764-1899
Fax: (212) 764-1888
Web: http://www.famousdaves.com/

Fernandes Steakhouse II - Newark, NJ

Kevin came home earlier than usual to take me out for dinner on my birthday. He said that he knew of this really nice Spanish/Portuguese churrascaria cum steakhouse in the Ironbound district and that we should totally go check it out. So, off we went to Ironbound for dinner!

Fernandes Steakhouse is not exactly smacked right in the heart of the Ironbound district. It is actually located in the outskirts, so if you don't have the address or a gps, you might just miss it. As we all know, the Ironbound is famous for it's Portuguese churrascaria and Fernandes is said to be one of the best around. Parking is also a breeze. There is a huge parking lot with valet service beside the restaurant.

From the moment we stepped into Fernandes, it felt like we left Newark for a bit and were transported to a Spanish winery in the countryside. With low lighting, exposed brick walls and really rustic decor, I felt that they did a good job with the decor. A perfect place to celebrate a special occasion. Also, there is a mariachi band that plays there during the weekends (too bad we missed out on that).

They have a pretty extensive ala carte menu but we knew that they were famous for their rodizio. So, we both went for the rodizio ($28.75 per person). For those of you who are not familiar with rodizio service churrascarias, this is how it works. You would pay a fixed price and the passadores (meat waiters) would come to your table with different types meat skewers and knives. It's a eat all you can and they would continue coming until you tell them that you had enough. We started off our dinner with a trip to the salad bar (which is also part of the rodizio). The salad bar wasn't all that big but it really doesn't matter. We were saving our stomachs for all the 'carne' that was coming!!! Oh and as usual, there were some pretty amazing bread served too.

After we were done with our salads, they cleared up our plates and started to set the table for our main course. They also brought out some complimentary sides and again, it is free flow. You can get them to top up the plates if you need more. We had a huge bowl of black beans, fries, rice, fried banana (they were good!), some sort of salsa and tapioca powder.

Ahhh at last. The passodores started bring out the meat on skewers and boy, did they bring out the meats! There were so many different kinds of meat and it was coming out non stop! Filet Mignon and turkey chunks wrapped in bacon, sirloin steak, prime rib, chorizo (some sort of spicy Iberian pork sausage), chicken wings and drumsticks, pork tenderloin, roast beef, short ribs, ham, cheese steak, garlic steak, chicken hearts, flank steak, beef kebabs....there were so many different types of meat, I can't really remember everything that they brought out!

Check out some of the meats that were part of the rodizio. The BBQ chefs were kind enough to allow me to step into their kitchen to take a picture of all the meats. Boy, they smelled so good and were soooo yummmy!

We initially ordered Iced Tea (which is actually Snapple - $3.75 each) to go with our dinner. However, mid way through our dinner, we noticed that almost every table had a pitcher of sangria. We thought that it was a good idea, since it goes really well with all that meat. So, we ordered a small pitcher ($15.50) too. Guess what? The sangria tasted amazing!!! Seriously, I have never tasted sangria that good before. I later found out that Fernandes is really famous for their sangria too! The two things that they are well known for is their rodizio and sangria. Looks like we hit a home run there :D

After we were done all the meats and told the passadores to stop, the captain came over and asked if we would like some dessert. We said no thanks, we were too full to eat anything else. He then said that we HAVE to try their grilled pineapples. It's part of the rodizio and truthfully, he has never eaten pineapples that sweet before. We have to try it. Well, if it's really that good, okay I guess. So, they brought out some pineapples on a skewer and yeah, they were good! I think they must have rubbed on some cinnamon on the outside of the pineapple before grilling. Also, the grilling really brought out the sweetness of the pineapple. It was juicy, super sweet, with a hint of cinnamon. Very good!

Overall, we had a great rodizio experience. The ambiance was really nice, the passadores were friendly and the food as well as the drinks were just awesome! Definitely a perfect place to go to when you are celebrating a special occasion. Judging from the almost empty pitcher of sangria and the goofy big smile plastered across my face, I must say that I did have a very happy birthday indeed! :P

Fernandes Steakhouse II - Newark, NJ
152-170 Fleming Avenue,
Newark, NJ 07105
Tel: (973) 465 4533/589 4066/589 4099 (reservations)
Fax: (973) 589 6312
Web: http://www.fernandessteakhouse.com/

Malaysian Bak Kwa in Chinatown, NYC

One of the things that I really miss since moving to the States is Malaysian style Bak Kwa (pork jerky). Yes, you can find some sort of pork or beef jerky in Asian grocery stores but it's not the Malaysian type. It's usually the ones imported from Taiwan or China, vacuum packed and not really that fresh (since it came all the way from Taiwan/China). Also, Malaysian bak kwa is usually soft and tender, where else, the ones you that you can find in Asian grocery stores are usually very hard and chewy.

I found out online that there is a Malaysian Bak Kwa shop in Chinatown and boy was I excited! After watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, we headed downtown to Chinatown, in search of this shop. With the help of the Chinatown Information center, we managed to locate this bak kwa shop. If you don't look hard enough, you might just miss it. It's just a tiny little shop, well, it's not even a full shop, it's just half a shop :P It looks kinda old and run down but the familiar smell of freshly BBQed bak kwa coming out from the shop was just intoxicating!

We checked out the old menu board outside the shop and saw that they had most of the stuff that bak kwa shops in Malaysia would have. They sold the bak kwa by weight, ranging from $17 to $18 per lbs. We can see from the board (old sticker marks) that it used to be between $15-$16 per lbs, but hey, I guess inflation happens everywhere :P

We walked in the shop and it looks like any of the bak kwa shops in SS2 or Petaling Street. Rows of different types of bak kwa in see through display cabinets. They had pork, beef and chicken jerky, available in spicy and regular. You can also choose between the sliced or minced version. They were also promoting their recently launched new flavor, shrimp flavored pork jerky. Too bad they didn't have the gold coins bak kwa or the gourmet bacon bak kwa, both my favorites (not to worry, two more months before we go back to Malaysia for CNY. That's when we can eat as much bacon bak kwa as we like!! :P).

Look at the guy behind the grill. He was BBQing the bak kwas non stop while we were there....smells so gooooood. We bought a lbs of regular pork jerky ($17), since I prefer the minced type to the sliced type. The lady was trying to push the shrimp flavored pork jerky to us but errr I think we'll give it a skip :P She also proudly told us that we can now buy the bak kwa online and they ship them all over America. How cool is that? :D

Check out our loot! They even have those yellow plastic bags with red letterings, just like all the bak kwa shops in Malaysia :D She also slipped in their menu as well as their business card, with their website url.

Here's how they pack the bak kwas. They would of course seal it air tight if they were shipping it cross country but for walk in customers, they would place it in a wax paper bag and then in a resealable plastic bag. This way, it keeps the bak kwa nice and fresh.

Mmm mmm mmmmm, doesn't that look good? One lbs of freshly BBQed pork jerky. It's so tender and nice, unlike the ones we can get from the Asian grocery store. Also, I just love the charcoal burnt sides, it just makes it even more authentic tasting. Of course we cannot compare the taste to the big time bak kwa companies like Kew Bros or Bee Cheng Hiang in Malaysia, but compared to the pork jerky that we can get here, it tasted like heaven. I think that it's as good as it can get. So, the next time you are in Chinatown and need a little dose of 'Malaysia', head over to Malaysia Beef Jerky Inc and get yourself a lbs of yummy jerky!!! :D

Malaysia Beef Jerky Inc
95A Elizabeth Street,
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 965-0796
Web: http://www.malaysiabeefjerky.com/