Month: August 2011

Butterbean burger recipe.

I am currently experimenting with low glycemic index (GI), slow carb recipes in preparation for the biggest diet overhauling of our lives and this is one of the results.

Butterbean burgers :D

# – Butterbean burgers.

In fact, even before we developed the awareness about low GI food, I’ve made bean mash before, which is an example of a healthy, low GI food.

Beans are really, really versatile (and tasty) as you shall discover in this recipe.

The ingredients

  • 1 can of butter beans, drained
  • 50 grams of blue cheese (if you don’t like strong tasting cheese you can replace with cheese of your choice)
  • 50 grams of parmesan cheese, grated
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1 medium shallot, finely diced
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • A dash of salt & black pepper

# – First, throw the butterbeans into a blender or food processor.

# – Followed by the grated parmesan cheese.

# – And then the blue cheese.

# – Pour in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. And blitz till the mixture is combined and creamy.

# – Pour mixture onto a plate or a bowl. Fold the chopped shallots in and season with salt/pepper.

# – Shape the mixture in patties.

# – Pan fry the patties for 5 minutes or till golden brown on each side.

# – Serve with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and yogurt. Butterbean burgers, DONE!

This is a far healthier alternative to fried mash potato! The burger was crispy on the outside, creamy and flavoursome on the inside.

The boyfriend loved it! His only complaint was that I didn’t make more. If you would like to have this as a main dinner for two, feel free to double the recipe for a bigger portion.

Balls…

Today I chanced upon a curious thing called “Indian Buffalo Mince” at the supermarket. Bought 2 packets out of sheer curiosity without really knowing what to do with them.

I’ve done things like this before, buying stuff due to curiousity. 2 kilos of liquid glucose, still unused and nasty vegetable shortening which I had used only once. How about those suspicious white chocolate rice?

Anyway, after sending out a sort of SOS out to twitter, I received two suggestions: burgers or omelette.

I chose neither and ended up with meatballs cause I wanted something to go with pasta.

Behold…..

# – Buffalo balls.

Absolutely delicious! Will blog the recipe soon.

p/s: Can’t you tell that this is a filler post? :-P Very sorry….normal blogging shall resume asap!

p/p/s: Actually, am blogging from my phone, which explains the unusual special effects. Just downloaded this photo editing app and I couldn’t refrain myself……..

p/p/p/s: Eh I can technically file this under beef category right? Or perhaps I should change the name of the category to BOVINE.

Cheers and have a good week!

T&K Seafood in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

I wish we had known about this restaurant on the day we arrived in Bangkok. Well, perhaps not knowing was really a blessing in disguise, otherwise I would have insisted to eat at the same place for four straight days and that would have made us really lousy holiday makers/foodies, wouldn’t that?

T&K Seafood was really near to our hotel, so we always passed by it. It was basically a small corner restaurant with outdoor seatings extended all the way onto the road.

# – Lets play spot the farang…

It was always packed and you’d notice that many of its patrons were farangs. The presence of white people was one of the reasons we kind of delayed eating there, thinking that it’s a tourist trap, EVENTHOUGH we’d read plenty of good reviews on Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor.

Thankfully, after seeing one too many empty large cockle shell, we decided to check it out near midnight right after a superb massage session, when there weren’t so many customers.

Of course I ordered the juicy, fat cockles. I was very happy that the manager spoke fluent English, so I got him to make sure that the cockles would not be overcooked. They arrived on my table, just lightly warmed through and still bloody. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant, yes.

# – Bloody, juicy, succulent cockles.

And when Thais clean cockles, they really do clean them! There’s not a trace of mud or sand on the shells.

# – I was in heaven.

I’ve always felt that eating cockles was like eating poor man’s oysters. So imagine my surprise when I noticed that T&K Seafood served actual oysters as well, side by side with the cockles like they were just cheap, common nothings. I could barely contained my glee.

# – Raw oyster salad with a side of raw herbs and a bowl of deep fried shallots.

# – There must had been about 15 decent sized raw oysters in there for about 120 baht. DIRT CHEAP. Sorry about my post-Thai massage hair :P

Suffice to say, I was all oystered out. I went back to the hotel so contented and happy. Then, we return to T&K the next day.

This time, we made sure we had loads of stomach space for a gigantic feast. There were so many other dishes on the menu that caught my eyes the previous night but we couldn’t possibly order because we already had dinner somewhere else.

# – Like this raw prawn salad. I FREAKIN’ MISS THIS ONE /SNIFFS

The prawns were so, so fresh and went so well with the spicy chilli garlic sauce. So good, I had two plates of raw prawns!

# – The stuffed crab was really good too. The BF ordered another after devouring this one up :D

# – Lovely deep fried squids.

# – Superb tomyam! Very good balance of spiciness, sourness and sweetness from the seafood. This is supposedly the smallest size but quite a large portion.

# – Crabmeat fried rice. What is with Thais and fried rice? I’ve never had a lousy fried rice in Thailand!

# – Cheap Thai beer and seriously, the best soda water in the world comes from the Land of Smiles. They don’t seem to fizzle out!

# – Aftermath.

I am incredibly impressed with T&K. By Malaysian standard, the amount of seafood would have cost us a bomb, but we ended up paying around RM150+. Crazy cheap!

# – T&K Seafood.

I will surely return to T&K on my next trip to Bangkok!

T &K Seafood Address (just down the road from Shanghai Mansion Hotel, you won’t miss the crowd)
49-51 Phadung Dao Road, Chinatown,
10100, Bangkok,
Thailand.
Tel: (02) 223 4519
Operation hours: Daily, 4.30pm – 2.00 am