Celebrity Chef Rohani Jelani cooking with Zespri Kiwi Fruits

Two weeks ago, I received a facebook message from Yan of “Eat your heart out” saying that she had passed my email address to a lady called Hazel and she would be writing to me to invite me to Zespri kiwi fruits event where we would learn all about their products. When I received the email from Hazel, I did not think twice and confirmed my attendance. Know why? Because it was being held in this scenic and serene place called Bayan Indah. I have heard positive comments from many friends about their culinary learning experiences there, in the midst of a beautiful garden setting.

Furthermore, I knew I would get to meet Celebrity Chef Rohani Jelani and see her in action, how cool is that? Sure, I was so pleased to go even though I knew I would have a hard time finding the place with my poor sense of direction. I was right, I could not locate the place on my GPS and when I looked at the address and the location map provided, I got lost already! LOL!

Finally the day of the event arrived, and I woke up 7.00am to get prepared to head out at 8:00  am. The event was to start at 10.00am. I knew what you must be thinking, why two hours?  For those who know me, they would know why. That’s because I give myself enough time to get lost and find my way back to the destination. True enough, I did it again! I landed in a small kampung up the hill with very narrow road where there was access for one car only at a time. When I was at the top of the hill reaching the last house, it was a dead end road. AIYOH! I found that I was stranded! There was hardly enough place to turn the car around. I was saying to myself "Say Lor!" (Die!)

OH MY GOODNESS! I was thinking, I can forget about going to the event. How am I going to go back down the hill and make it there on time? Suddenly, one young Malay gentleman came out of his house. I told him I could not turn my car around and asked if he knew where Bayan Indah is situated. I showed him the map and he said he knew the  way to the place. He was so kind to help me turn my car around and even lead me to the door step of my destination.  If only the world has more kind souls like him, it would be so much a better place to live in. It is a comfort to know there are still lots of kind people around. 

Now, guess what? I was the first one to arrive. Later the rest of the attendees arrived. There were people from the media, including magazines and several other food bloggers. We were then each offered a Zespri kiwi smoothie as a welcome drink.

The kiwi smoothies were delicious and I could not help but take another.

After all the guests arrived, we were asked to sit back and relax and get ready to hear all about Zespri system, their products.

An informative presentation given by 

the Marketing Manager (SEA), Miss Judy Lee of Zespri 

And a talk about the goodness of kiwi fruits by Dietician, Miss Ng Yee Voon 

For example I learned that when we eat fruits we want to choose those that have the highest nutrition density index and kiwi fruit is on the top of the chart. 

Ten Fabulous Facts About Kiwifruit

1.            Kiwifruit are the nutrition powerhouses of fruit

            

Kiwifruit consistently rank at the top of fruit in nutrition density models which tell us exactly how nutritious food are. That means you get more vitamins and minerals per gram, and per calorie, of kiwifruit than most other fruit.

2.            Kiwifruit are rich in vitamin C

            

While everyone always think of oranges for vitamin C they should think kiwifruit. In fact there is twice as much vitamin C in kiwifruit as there are in oranges. So much in fact you only need one kiwifruit each day to get the amount recommended for your daily intake (RDA).

3.            Other vitamins that kiwifruit are especially high in (compared to other fruit) are

            

Vitamin E

Its quite unusual for a low fat food, let alone fruit to be a good source of vitamin E (well known for its heart health and antioxidant properties) - but kiwifruit is a great low fat natural source of vitamin E

Folic Acid

A natural source of folic acid which is needed to prevent neural defects in babies (you need folic acid both before and during pregnancy) as well as brain and cognitive development in children and cardiovascular disease. Everyone needs to have enough in their diet. In fact folic acid is so important many countries are considering adding Folic Acid to flour to ensure we get enough.

Potassium

It has about the same levels as bananas but only half the calories - making kiwifruit an excellent low sodium, increased potassium source - potentially beneficial in the maintenance of blood pressure and for heart health.

4.             Kiwifruit are a good source of the carotenoid lutein

            

Kiwifruit has not only one of the highest concentrations of lutein in fruits - but the lutein in kiwifruit has recently been shown to be really highly bioaccessible (better than from vegetables) and so it is bio-available - meaning it can actually do good things such as help to prevent age related deterioration of eye-sight.

5.            Kiwifruit are naturally high in antioxidants (e.g. polyphenols, carotenoids) and other potentially beneficial phytochemicals including some unique enzymes

            

Eating kiwifruit is a sure way to get your daily intake of antioxidants to help fight the damage cause by free radicals and oxidative stress.

6.            Kiwifruit can help improve the function of your immune system

            

Natural protection from daily challenges helping you to ward off the effects of stress, inflammation and attack from bacteria and viruses. Recent and ongoing trials have shown kiwifruit to be highly effective at beneficially modulating the immune system.

Next, we were prompted to buy the best quality and now that I know Zespri system ensures that all ZESPRI products are grown with the best orchard management techniques possible and very stringent in quality control of the fruits, I will probably buy Zespri kiwi over others. 

If you are interested to know more about Zespri kiwifruits, do head over to their website to read all about it. I do not mind making this testimonial to the brand. They have a high commitment to the best possible product and that product is a very healthy food.

Oh, and apparently Zespri is holding a contest for Malaysians to come up with creative recipes using their kiwifruits as the main ingredient. Last day of submission of entries is 24th September 2012, so put on your thinking cap and let your creative juice flows. Who knows?  You might be one of the 5 lucky winners to receive Zespri premiums worth more than RM 100.00.

You may contact Hazel (hazel@world.com.my) or Adrian (adrian@world.com.my) if you want to know more about the  competition.

After understanding all about Zespri kiwi , it was time to have some fun. We all headed to the Bayan Indah's kitchen. As soon as we reached the dining area beside the kitchen, we were greeted with beautiful and yummy kiwi cupcakes and lovely table settings and two shiny stainless steel poles. 

Kiwi fruits were used as the center piece.

Before Chef Rohani does her cooking demo, there was a pole dancing performance. 

When the instructor asked the audience to try, everyone was so shy to even go near the pole. So yours truly, went and tried it out to break the ice. The rest followed. Trust me, it was not easy, especially for an old lady. If you want to see me in action, you can head over to Sonia of “Nasi Lemak Lover” to see it. She took a great shot of me flying off the pole! (Just kidding). I should warn you, you might be very disappointed by what you will see. Haiyah, what do you expect from an old lady doing the pole dance ha? LOL!

Then came the most interesting part of the event, the cooking demo by Chef Rohani, showing us various methods of cutting the kiwi fruits before the hands-on session of cooking three of her recipes using Zespri Kiwi Fruits. 

Demo by Chef Rohani showed different ways of cutting kiwi

I will let my photos speak to you from here on.

Our station is No.3 and there were four of us me, Sonia of "Nasi Lemak Lover", Swee San of  "The Sweetspots" and Eveyln of "Missyblurkit" preparing four dishes:

kiwi fruit platter

Spicy Zespri kiwifruit, glass noodle and chicken salad
Swee San is the one who did most of the work on this dish

Nyonya style asam fish curry with Zespri kiwifruit wedges
Sonia and I cooked this together

Zespri kiwifruit pastries with yoghurt cream and kiwi jam
Eveyln did most of the work for the jam

Everyone did their own plating for the dessert and this is what I did for mine

The most fun part was that we all enjoyed ourselves cooking up the dishes and they tasted awesome!

and of course we had to have a group photo for the album

and for me, I must have one shot with the Celebrity Chef Rohani
for my album

Check this video out and see how much fun we had!

Quay Po's FIRST Cooking Class

I would never in my wildest dream thought that I will be invited to conduct a cooking class. I would like to thank Tania of Pantry Magic for giving me this opportunity.

Before last July, don't ask me to cook or bake, I was not interested. It is only when I started "Quay Po Cooks" to document my mum's and my Quay Lo's recipes that I began to pay attention to cooking and baking. Oh, and blog? What do I write about that anyone would want to read? I am not even a good writer. How would I know that in the process of seriously learning cooking Chinese cuisine from my mum and Western cuisine from my Quay Lo that it now became a second passion for me? My first is still dancing. What kept this passion for cooking and baking is actually the whole package. It is the result of delicious food,  the nice food photos, the positive comments and support I received from my family, friends, my blogger friends and my readers and the opportunity to meet some great friends all over the globe who share the same passion. I am here because of your continuous encouragement and I have to say “Thank you” again and again to you  for your friendship and being with me on my culinary journey. 

A shout out to those who do not know how to cook or bake but want to and are afraid to. DON'T talk yourself out of your interest!  Go into your kitchen and start now and you will be so happy you did. You will find yourself entering in a new world of self satisfaction. If Quay Po can do it, anyone can! It takes only a little time to start understanding the basics.

I am eager to share with you my experience of conducting my first cooking class in Pantry Magic, Bangsar last Sunday.  The morning before the class, I was rather nervous. I was afraid that I would not be able to deliver a good demontration. To my surprise, it went very well. I was much relieved that the “Lucy” in me was in hiding (wipe forehead with a sigh). If you are a new reader and wonder who “Lucy” is, read this old post of mine).  What is more I had my blogger friend, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover there to lend moral support and help me. Finally, I was very fortunate to have extremely friendly, nice people who attended my class.  It was more like a “Sunday hang out” rather than a class. We were chatting and laughing like old friends.  While waiting for the food to be ready, my  new friends were chatting amongst themselves and enjoying the little treat I brought for them. I made some “Maca-rights” the day before and brought with me to the class.. Yes, there were those with my roasted chestnut filling.  

Everyone commented that they were delicious and all noted that they liked them because they were not so sweet. Everybody who has tasted my macs with the roasted chestnut filling (including those who did not like macs due to their normal ultra-sweetness) said they enjoyed this combination. Sonia’s daughter loved it so much, she ate two! Click on the picture if you want the recipe. 


Points made by my attendees that I needed to take note of were what they liked about my class. They liked that I shared with them all the “Dos and Don'ts” and that I highlighted the useful tips on each recipe. They felt by knowing that, they were better equipped to try the three recipes on their own at home with a better chance of success. 

Although I was not familiar with the kitchen tools and the behavior of the oven at Pantry Magic, the food came out perfect and received positive comments from all the attendees.  Come to think of it, it is quite a good deal to attend classes in Pantry Magic. You only have to pay RM150.00 to learn three recipes and you will receive a RM50.00 discount vouchers (valid for 1 year) from them. You get a delicious meal and got to take home some delicious meat loaf, mashed potatoes and chocolate chips cookie dough. Also, you get to meet nice people. Isn't that worth it?

Both Tania of Pantry Magic, and especially the attendees, were very happy with the class and they said they looked forward to another in the near future.  That was so awesome! By the way, if you are somewhere in Bangsar, you might want to pop into Pantry Magic. The shop is a haven for those who love cooking and baking.  Here is the link to their website and you can browse through the products they carry. It is indeed a cool place and there is not one item there I don’t want to own.

One of my attendees, Tina Muhd is a Pilates Instructor. She said I should organize another class on baking and she will teach us how to stretch while waiting for the bakes to be ready so we will not feel so guilty. LOL!  She is so cute.  If any of you who reside in Kuala Lumpur, would like to take private Pilates class with her, you can contact her at her mobile 0162393923 or by email at breathingpilates@gmail.com.  From the short encounter with her, I find her to be a friendly and warm person and fun to be with.  If I were to take up a private class in Pilates, I would definitely go to her.

As I was busy conducting the class, I had no time to take any photos. I'm so grateful to Sonia who took some photos and she has shared her experience at my class and the photos in her blog. Click on "her blog" to go check it out. Here is group photo taken by her after the class. 

Thanks so much for your help Sonia. I so very much appreciate your presence and your help. MUAXXX!!  I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed yourself and it was great to see your daughter enjoying the food so much.  She is living up to the reputation of a Food Blogger Mummy's daughter! LOL! I am looking forward to see your post on the class and all the other photos that you have taken.

Here are the three recipes that I shared in my class last Sunday, which I would like to share with you today. I have posted two of the recipes before but here are the improved versions.  The improved meat loaf recipe was given to me by my Quay Lo but he could not remember where he got it so he could not give credit to the source. He said he had made some modifications to the original recipe. This one is to die for because the meat came out SO flavorful! For the mash potatoes recipe which was adapted from Linda Larsen, I have made further modification to it to get a more even silky and smooth texture. Lastly my late mother-in-law's American chocolate chips cookies, this too, I have changed the portion of white and brown sugar and the oven temperature to yield an even more chewy texture.

Pardon me for using the old photos for the recipes because I did not take any during the class.

Classic Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

1.5 kg ground beef

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions chopped

6 cloves garlic minced

1 green pepper finely chopped

4 stalks celery chopped

3 eggs beaten

120 ml cream

150 g soft breadcrumbs

4 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp brown sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tbsp paprika (preferably smoked paprika)

2 tsp salt

½ tbsp ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C or 375F, or gas mark 4. Heat the frying pan and add the oil. Put in the onions and let them cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the celery, the green pepper and the garlic. Stir it all together and cook until soft. Then remove from the heat. Transfer the softened vegetables onto a tray and allow to cool for a few minutes. Place the beef into a large bow and add the ketchup, the HP sauce, the chilli sauce, the beaten eggs, the cream, the breadcrumbs, the paprika, the salt and pepper. Use your hands to combine it all together, squeeze and fold to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed. Then add the cooled vegetables and mix them in thoroughly as well. Take handfuls of the meat mixture and press them down into the loaf tin. Continue to fill the tin until all the meat is used. Finish off by molding the top into a loaf shape. Place the meat loaf into the centre of the preheated oven and cook for approximately 1hr – 1hr 15mins. After this time, remove it from the oven. Allow it to rest for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting. Once the meat loaf has been removed from the tin, place it on a cutting board and cut into thick slices, using a large knife. It can be served with mashed potato, accompanied by horseradish sauce, mayonnaise, mustard or your favorite brown or cream sauce.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lbs of russet potatoes

1 tbs salt (to put into the water)

85 gm unsalted butter

1 C warm milk

salt and freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste

Method:

Place the potatoes in cold water. Bring water to boil on medium heat. Lower heat to low and let simmer and cook potatoes until fork tender or about 25 to 30 mins. Drain potatoes and return to the same pot and let the residual heat in the pot to dry out the potatoes. Transfer to the mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a sauce pan with 1 cup of milk. Add the butter and milk potatoes in mixing bowl and mash them with a masher, potato riser or electric mixer. Add salt and freshly ground black or white pepper to taste.

Useful tips:

1)  Start with cold water to allow for more even cooking.

2) NEVER use a food processor to mash potatoes. 
  While it  seems like a good idea to make short work of the job, the extremely high speed at which the blade spins literally smashes the starch granules, and what you end up with is a gluey, starchy, nasty mess.

3) If you want lighter mashed potatoes, whisk them or use a mixer. If you like dense, smooth mashed potatoes, use the ricer. The texture of your mashed potatoes are really all about the tool you choose to use.

American Chocolate chips cookies

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 sticks (8 oz.) butter soften

1/3 C granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

(A)

2 ¼ C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

(B)

1 C packed brown sugar

½ C oatmeal (raw)

2 tbs corn flour

Method:

Put (A) in a bowl and mix well and set aside. Put (B) in a blender and blend till fine. Beat fine blended mixture (B), butter, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl with the mixer until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Gradually add mixture (A) mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and mix well. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill in the freezer for 1 hour. Just before baking, preheat oven to 160C or 320F. Cut dough and form into golf ball size and place onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 18 - 20 mins or until lightly browned. (Note: this depends on your oven, mine was perfect at 18 mins)  Cool slightly and remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely before taking out of the baking sheet.

Note: Keep cookies in an air tight container and store in the fridge for balance not eaten. It becomes more chewy the next day.