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Hyderabad Mutton Masala

Posted on January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Hyderabad Mutton Masala
Hyderabad Mutton Masala

Full disclosure. I did not create this recipe for Hyderabad mutton masala, but extracted it out of another recipe for biryani. Before that, a word or two about my love affair with Indian food. From young, my friends used to tease me for having an “Indian stomach” because of my penchant for curries, masalas, etc….

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Beef & Lamb, Indian, Recipes

10 cool Ipoh cafes that opened in the last 6 months

Posted on January 19, 2023January 27, 2023 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on 10 cool Ipoh cafes that opened in the last 6 months
10 cool Ipoh cafes that opened in the last 6 months

Here are 10 Ipoh Cafes that opened in the last 6 months – half of them are in Old Town! I have personally visited them to have a drink at least, not simply copy paste from the internet ok!! 1. Jias By GirafFood – Western & Malaysian food, including simply the best nasi lemak I’ve…

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Food review, Stories

Nyonya & Hainanese Comfort Food at D North Star, Ipoh

Posted on January 10, 2023January 13, 2023 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Nyonya & Hainanese Comfort Food at D North Star, Ipoh
Nyonya & Hainanese Comfort Food at D North Star, Ipoh

I’ve passed D North Star ‘s unassuming frontage a million times but never bothered to check the restaurant out, because our goal is to withdraw money from Maybank Canning Garden Ipoh next door. Zip and go. A few weeks ago when I was by myself, I felt a sudden stab of curiosity and went in….

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Food review, Malaysian, Nyonya, Stories

Home-style Nyonya Cooking at Jason Nyonya House, Penang

Posted on January 7, 2023January 13, 2023 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Home-style Nyonya Cooking at Jason Nyonya House, Penang
Home-style Nyonya Cooking at Jason Nyonya House, Penang

I’ve been curious about Jason Nyonya House for a while. We must have passed it at least half a dozen times because it’s near my husband’s nanny’s house. However, we never really got round to trying it out as Nanny always cooks for us. Then a few weeks ago, a most serendipitous incident led us…

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Food review, Malaysian, Nyonya, Stories

Falafel (No Deep-Frying Involved)

Posted on January 1, 2023January 7, 2023 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Falafel (No Deep-Frying Involved)
Falafel (No Deep-Frying Involved)

Dear God, how much I adore falafel but how difficult they can be to get right! After more attempts that I can count, I finally got them perfectly crunchy, golden brown and mad delicious, WITHOUT deep frying too. It took quite a bit of experimentation (read: failed attempts). The hardest part was getting the balls…

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Middle Eastern, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Pistachio Pesto Pasta

Posted on January 15, 2022January 16, 2022 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Pistachio Pesto Pasta
Pistachio Pesto Pasta

No, this pistachio pesto pasta is not classic, but after trying this recipe, you might just prefer it to the original version with pine nuts! First, why pistachio for pesto? For this wild idea, I gotta thank my frugal inner housewife. I love a good pesto pasta, but the price of pine nuts has skyrocketed….

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Noodles & Pasta, One-pot meal, Western

Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang

Posted on December 29, 2021December 29, 2021 By Alexandra Wong 2 Comments on Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang
Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang

Our discovery of KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen – a hidden gem serving some of Penang’s best nyonya heritage food – began with a frustrating search for old-fashioned kaya. To be exact, pleasing hubby’s craving for the kind of traditional kaya he grew up with in Penang. From famous brands to owner-operated cafes to roadside stalls,…

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Food review, Nyonya

Beef Noodles at Kuan Soo Noodle Stall, ICC Pudu

Posted on December 28, 2021December 28, 2021 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Beef Noodles at Kuan Soo Noodle Stall, ICC Pudu
Beef Noodles at Kuan Soo Noodle Stall, ICC Pudu

I’m a latecomer to the pleasures of beef noodles. Specifically, the beef SOUP noodle type. Somehow, I just never ate a version anywhere that was good enough to impress me – they were all too watery, like reconstituted Bovril, and were measly in their helpings. I still enjoyed beef noodles though, but only the dry…

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Chinese, Food review, Noodles & Pasta

Mum’s Fried Beehoon

Posted on December 24, 2021January 15, 2022 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Mum’s Fried Beehoon
Mum’s Fried Beehoon

Mum’s fried beehoon is “very simple only.” Come to think of it, that’s her standard answer whenever I ask her for the recipe of virtually any dish she cooks. She’s telling the truth. When she describes the process to me, it DOES sound simple. Ingredient lists are typically short. The steps, few. But somehow in…

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Noodles & Pasta, One-pot meal

Chicken Confit

Posted on December 23, 2021January 15, 2022 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Chicken Confit
Chicken Confit

Make chicken confit at home? No way in hell, man! Or at least – until yesterday. Now, I’ve seen chicken or duck confit in restaurant menus a number of times, in particular fancy restaurants. The price tag is usually hefty, which gave me the impression it must be super delicious AND super difficult to make….

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One-pot meal, Poultry

Stir-fried Cabbage with Miso

Posted on October 26, 2021January 15, 2022 By Alexandra Wong 2 Comments on Stir-fried Cabbage with Miso
Stir-fried Cabbage with Miso

Folks, meet my Chinese-style three-ingredient stir-fried cabbage that delivers loads of umami courtesy of …. miso! I know, miso is not an ingredient commonly used in Chinese kitchens. But the moment I tasted the result, I was like, why didn’t I think of that earlier?? If you make Chinese stir fries regularly, you probably rely…

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Chinese, Vegetables

Parmesan-Crusted French Toast

Posted on October 25, 2021January 15, 2022 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Parmesan-Crusted French Toast
Parmesan-Crusted French Toast

This ADULT version of the traditional French toast uses a not-too-secret pantry ingredient …. parmesan! We all know how to do normal French toast. You take a slice of white bread, dip it in beaten egg, fry in hot fat, and voila. This one takes the same concept. Except I add a layer of grated…

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Breakfast & Brunch, Eggs

Teriyaki Chicken Poke Bowl

Posted on June 21, 2021August 17, 2021 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Teriyaki Chicken Poke Bowl
Teriyaki Chicken Poke Bowl

A teriyaki chicken poke bowl is a thing of joy – and the perfect quarantine meal. First, what’s poke bowl … is it Japanese or Hawaiian? Poke is a regional American-based cuisine from Hawaii, heavily influenced by Japanese cuisine.The word “poke” means “to slice or cut” in Hawaiian. In the original version, poke bowls feature…

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Japanese, One-pot meal, Poultry, Rice

Garlic Fried Rice

Posted on June 18, 2021June 27, 2021 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Garlic Fried Rice
Garlic Fried Rice

Folks, meet Japanese garlic fried rice. Like all simple dishes, it only looks easy to perfect. I couldn’t believe that making fried rice could be so difficult, until I tried to recreate the dish at home. The results were not bad, but somehow my garlic fried rice lacked umami, or wok hei, or something. I…

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Japanese, Recipes, Rice

Onion Jam

Posted on June 7, 2021June 27, 2021 By Alexandra Wong 2 Comments on Onion Jam
Onion Jam

I’m no stranger to onion jam. A sweet-sticky condiment of slow-cooked onions, it’s typically served with burgers in Western restaurants. In Asia, it’s sometimes just called “caramelised onions”. Is it nice? Yes, but nothing to get excited about. Until I ate a version made by a friend in Singapore, using her personal recipe. Holy smokes….

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Condiments, Western

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Who’s Ipohbunny, lah?

Welcome!

I’m Alexandra Wong, a self-taught Malaysian home cook on a mission to simplify and healthify recipes using affordable quality ingredients. I am a writer by profession, mostly known for my feelgood stories about people, travel and food.

ipohbunny

Super happy with my lamb masala yesterday! Almost Super happy with my lamb masala yesterday! Almost tempted to eat it with white rice instead of making a biryani out of it 😋

I followed this lady's recipe. I watched a lot of biryani videos but @smitadeoofficial 's version stood out because of one unusual technique: she not only adds fried onions, she goes one step further by BLENDING them first into a paste before adding to the marinade. Very innovative! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLaLwAeAxBw

What I did, based on ingredients on hand

1. Slice up and fry red onions until brown but not burnt lah. 
2. Use stick-blender to blend fried onions and garlic cloves into a paste. Add some water if necessary.
3. Marinate lamb/mutton with yogurt, red chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, ginger powder, salt and chopped coriander leaves (and mint leaves if you have), and onion-garlic paste. [Note: the standard recipe calls for green chilli and ginger-garlic paste which I didn't have, so I improvised]
4. Heat up a tbs of ghee in Dutch oven. Add marinated lamb straight away. Add a little water, then cover and cook on low flame for 35-40 minutes. I used lamb shoulder, and this was enough time for the meat to become soft.

I cooked the lamb first last night as I knew we'd be out today socialising. Tonight, just need to cook the rice and assemble everything for the final cooking.

#muttonbiryani #muttonmasala #lambmasala #muttonmasala #lambrecipe #Indianfood #Indiancooking #garammasala #spicyfood #spicyrecipes #Asianfood #cookwithipohbunny #Malaysianfoodbloggers #foodporn #curry #curryrecipes #Asianrecipes #meatrecipes #Indianfoodlover #Indianfoodphotography
We got to know of "Sam" when somebody posted about We got to know of "Sam" when somebody posted about his cafe in the Taman Desa Fb community group. I was super excited. While Taman Desa is a foodie's paradise, the one thing it lacked was a good biryani spot.

The "shop" turned out to be a tiny half-lot next to an aquarium shop, with barebones furniture. Combo Asian Food was run by "Sam", who used to work in a Japanese restaurant but with COVID19, tough times fell and he relocated to Taman Desa where he opened his own place. The menu was eclectic, featuring a mix of dishes inherent to his cultural roots (the most amazing dum biryani, chicken kadai, and the softest chapati I've ever eaten). 

We quickly became regulars. A sweet, well-mannered gentleman, Sam occasionally threw in a free dish that he wanted us to try, drinks on the house, etc. At humble prices, he couldn't be making much margin, yet it was clear he just wanted to show his appreciation of our regular patronage. 

Sam's good vibes stayed with me even after moving to Penang.

A few days ago, we went back for a meal. The first surprise was, it'd been rebranded as Desa Biryani Cafe. He still remembered us. He said, "I always feel a bit sad when I don't see familiar faces for some time." I apologised for not showing up for so long.

The second, the HUGE portion of biryani. "I gave you more because you haven't come for long time."

The third surprise was the bill. Hubs & I had planned to pay him RM30 because honestly, RM26+ was just ridiculous for that huge biryani with one chicken leg, 2 teas and a chappati. But the bill he printed out was RM19?!

"You long time never come. So I want to treat you to the drinks since it's Chinese New Year." 

Of course that was not happening!! In the end, he took my RM30 and I accepted the Mandarin oranges he offered.

The best kind of marketing is just pure and simple sincerity.

...

23A Jalan Desa Jaya
Taman Desa KL. 
+6011 61645484
Opens 7am-10pm

#tamandesaeats #KLcafes #bestbiryaniinkl #biryani #chickenbiryani #biryanilove #biryanilovers #muttonbiryani #hyderabadibiryani #biryanilover #dumbiryani #chickendumbiryani #bestbiryani #muttondumbiryani #Malaysianfoodblogger #eatwithipohbunny #klfoodie #klfoodiehalal
Happy Lunar New Year to all! One of the yee sang Happy Lunar New Year to all!

One of the yee sang we had in the last few days Probably the best yee sang I've ever eaten. Aside from the luxurious addition of abalone, the all important sauce was scrumptious! Grateful 🥰

#cny2023 #yeesang #ChineseNewYear
When you're craving comfort food, nothing hits the When you're craving comfort food, nothing hits the spot like fried rice. Made this with a little restaurant twist - I added in prawn oil and salted egg yolk for an extra depth of umami. Yum!

1. Cook rice for 2 ppl. If I cook it on the same day, I dry it by leaving it open in the fridge for several hours.
2. Fry a bunch of prawn heads and their shells in oil until they turn red. Use a potato masher to squeeze out the flavour filled roe from the prawn heads, yum. Remove shells and collect your prawn oil.
3. Boil one salted duck egg for 15 minutes in boiling water, cool and remove yolk and crumble.
4. Dice half a carrot, 4 cloves garlic and 1 sprig spring onion.
5. Heat up 2 tbs oil in clean wok and add diced garlic. Saute until fragrant. Add prawn oil. 
6. Add prawns, diced carrots (or any frozen veg) and crumbled egg yolk. 
7. When prawns are nearly cooked, add rice and toss to coat with oil.
8. Push rice to the side and crack an egg in. Scramble.
9. Add fish sauce, soy sauce and white pepper. Toss to mix everything together. Press rice on the wok surface to toast the grains more thoroughly to get that wok hei.
10. Add spring onions and dish up.

#friedrice #rice #nasigoreng #friedricerecipe #wokhei #homecooking #cookwithipohbunny #Malaysianhomecook #Chinesecooking #chinesehomecooking
I've been trying to make great oatmeal cookies for I've been trying to make great oatmeal cookies for a while, but haven't found a recipe that I like until now.

Anna Olson's recipe has a surprising ingredient - cornstarch! Wow! I've never seen that hack before in any cookie recipe, but I was intrigued enough to try it - and it really works.

My cookies turned out crispy outside and chewy inside. I wouldn't change a thing, other than experiment with different nuts and fillings. I had pistachios and cranberries, so that's what I went with.

Not all hacks work though. Two that didn't impress me in the past:

1) Use a combo of olive oil and butter - I saw a video where the chef substituted half the fat with olive oil. I thought, mmm, healthier - why not? Didn't work out. I really missed the buttery fragrance.

2) In the name of health, I substituted white sugar with Lakanto (for the uninitiated, that's monkfruit sweetener). Ugh, horrible. I suspect this is because Lakanto doesn't caramelise like white sugar, which gives oatmeal cookies that nice crispy crunch on the edges.

Go watch @chefannaolson 's Youtube video on drop cookies, but in the meantime, here's a condensed version of my ingredient list. These make 12. Two of these equal one big cookie. The regular US-sized ones are really too big for us Asians! Smaller = more virtuous too :)

60g butter
1/2 egg
70g sugar (brown and white mixed)
50g flour
Cinnamon
Cornflour
Baking soda
80g rolled oats
Cranberries
Pistachios

#oatmealcookies #oatcookies #cookies #chewycookies #Malaysianbaker #baker #baking #sweets #bakedgoods #cookierecipe #oatmealcookierecipe #cookwithipohbunny #Malaysianhomecook
Any hardcore durian lovers here? If yes, pls mose Any hardcore durian lovers here?

If yes, pls mosey over to @6halfcoffee ASAP. They have their signature durian pies hot off the oven!

This is one seriously duriany pie! It's full on real durian flesh, not those cheat-one versions where the filling is 80% cheap cream and 20% flesh. Their talented and innovative baker only makes these seasonally, so don't miss the chance. Psst they've got loads of other great foods here and the coffee here is the best in town! 

You're welcome 😜

#duriantart #durianlover #durianpie #durians #Ipohbaker #Ipohcafe #Ipohfood #eatwithipohbunny #Malaysianfoodbloggers #sixhalfcoffee #ipohdesserts #ipohmali #ipohcityawesome_food
Now, there are a lot of good asam laksa stalls in Now, there are a lot of good asam laksa stalls in Penang but this one is my favourite by a MILE.

I learned about its existence from
@Penangfoodie and @ceddyornot and to be honest, I was a little skeptical at first. I'd never heard of it before, but decided to give it a go last weekend because we were in the neighbourhood.

Woah. When I drink the soup, my spectacle also jatuh... because the soup was so KAW. Super intense, cukup pungent and no need to add hae koe (prawn paste) because the stall owner adds it for you. Such a big difference from some of the popular ones, which have gotten a little watery compared to when I first ate there years ago and honestly, made me start questioning whether asam laksa is still Penang's forte.

You may notice I'm posting more and more hidden gems, rather than the super famous places in Penang anymore, unless I'm trying them for the first time. First, the famous places are already famous enough, and I'd like to support the small upcoming places.

1-G-3, Medan Angsana 4,
Mukim 13, 11500 Ayer Itam
Opens 11am-7pm

#Penangfoodie #asamlaksa #Penangasamlaksa #Penangfood #Penanghawkerfood #laksa #bestfoodsinPenang #Malaysianfoodbloggers #Malaysianfoodie #eatwithipohbunny #FarlimShellStationasamlaksa
Ipoh is truly experiencing an explosion of excitin Ipoh is truly experiencing an explosion of exciting cafes. Everytime I drive through town, I see yet ANOTHER new cafe. How can my stomach catch up? 

The newest one is @irodori7400 , a new cafe along Market Street, specialising in Tokyo fruit tarts. Opened just two weeks ago, I discovered it while going around the Kong Heng area (I'm lucky to live 10 minutes' drive away, so I'm pretty up to date about the foodie developments in that neighbourhood). 

The tarts looked so gorgeous in the display case that I finally bought a slice home two days ago to try. Loveeed it! It's a dessert you can eat while still feeling virtuous because there's a generous amount of fresh fruit, and not too much cloying cream. I really love how the pastry chef has localised it by incorporating tropical fruits like dragon fruit and pomelo. 

Price? RM22 per slice. Some may find it a bit steep but for the craftsmanship, quality of ingredients and the amount of fruits, I think the price is more than fair. I've seen other cafes in KL and Penang that charge that amount for cakes which are far less intricate.

A good friend in the F&B industry pointed out, "Fresh fruit is perishable and not cheap to begin with. Some do lament why fruit based dessert so Mahal. Adoii ... we can't buy one batang of banana, or two biji of strawberry. Is either one comb, half comb, one kg, 600gm. Then have to clean, cut and garnish for aesthetic appeal."

Her comments made me realise so much invisible effort, passion and cost goes into creating good food. To me, it's fair that the creator decide its value and names his price, and as a customer, I try to respect that decision gracefully and gratefully.

#ipohcafe #ipohcafehunt #cafehopipoh #Ipohbakery #Tokyofruittart #Ipohfood #OldTownIpoh #Malaysianfoodbloggers
A big thank you to my Dad who taught me the art of A big thank you to my Dad who taught me the art of frying black pomfret until kreuk-kreuk crispy without using a bucketload of oil. ❤️❤️❤️

Tips:
1. Make sure your oil is hot.
2. Make sure your fish is dry before putting it in
3. Use my dad's special "tilt and move" method!

Watch till the end for some special personal footage 🥰

#dadthecook #dadcooking #cookingwithdad #fryingfish #friedblackpomfret #cookwithipohbunny #fish #friedfish #Malaysianhomecook #Malaysiancooking
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