Bentong 文冬 (Pahang 彭亨) Trip (2016) - Part 1

The last time I visited Bentong was more than 20 years ago!!! This family trip was a last minute decision as in actual fact we wanted to book a holiday resort in Pahang for the Hari Raya week long holidays. Too bad it was fully booked. So, we decided to go for a day trip to Bentong on the first day of Hari Raya (6th July 2016).

The Bentong District 文冬 is in Pahang, Malaysia. For non-Malaysians, for your information, the hill resort of Genting Highlands, Bukit Tinggi and Cameron Highlands are also located in the state of Pahang. Bentong is located 80km northeast of Kuala Lumpur which is just across the main range, Titiwangsa Mountain. It is bordered by Selangor on the west and Negeri Sembilan on the south.

According to an old story, Bentong was previously known as Kapong. It was changed from Kapong to Bentong before World War I. In earlier times, the center of Bentong was around the market area, at the meeting point of the rivers Repas and Perting.

The most important transportation way at that time was the rivers by using perahu (small boats). The jetty was situated in front of current rest house (near current Bentong Police Station).

Bentong became a focal point when tin ore was discovered in the two main rivers, Repas and Perting. Tin developers constructed ‘ban’ to extract more ore, hence more profits. The practice became a talking matter to the people outside Bentong, who referred to it as the story of ‘ban untung’ (the Profitable Ban). ‘Ban Untung’ became more well-known than Kapong that later people began to call it Ban Untung. From the name ‘Ban Untung’ was what the name for the district of Bentong derived from.

From other story, according to Pak Zek (Budayawan Dato’ Haji Zakaria bin Hitam), the name Bentong originated from ‘Bapong’ (meaning float). Bentong was once used as a fort by Dato’ Bahaman. The British army sent over the Gurkhas mercenary to defeat Dato’ Bahaman to take over the area. However, a number of the Gurkhas were killed after they were ambushed by Dato’ Bahaman’s men. Their bodies were thrown into the river and floated in the water. Following the incident, the site was known as Bapong, and later known as Bentong. The exact date of the name change was on 31 August 1957.

For more info on Bentong, please refer to wikipedia.

From Gombak toll, it took less than an hour to reach our destination. It was still early (before 7am) when we arrived at Bentong town. Our first venue was Pasar Besar Bentong (Bentong Market) for breakfast. It's a popular tourist destination for local delicacies. Too bad, most of the popular restaurants and stalls were closed on that day as it was a public holiday. We had planned to have our breakfast at a popular kopitian (local restaurant), Yuen Kee Kopitiam at Jalan Pasar (Market Street) but it was closed on Wednesday! This kopitiam is famous for its wantan mee (egg noodles). So, we settled for another kopitiam, LY Corner. My goodness! The shop was so packed with early birds and we had to wait for about 25 minutes to be seated. Ok, I need to cut short my long winded explanation. Just enjoy the pictures :-

Bentong Town : A small quaint town turned into tourist attraction!

Pasar Besar Bentong is located between Jalan Ah Peng and Jalan Chui Yin.

We had our breakfast here.  This is just opposite the Bentong market.

Wantan mee (egg noodles) for breakfast

Big colorful patio umbrellas lining the market street

Local Delicacies

There are many stalls selling moringa seeds. It's a craze now!

 

When at Bentong market, you should try to look out for Bentong ginger, Tofu Bok (豆腐卜) & stamped Tofu (海記豆付).   Kaya Puffs being sold by Mokie Home-Baked Pastry is located at the back portion of the market (facing Jalan Chui Yin). 

It started to rain and we hurried to our cars and adjourned to our next destination, Air Terjun Chamang (Chamang Waterfall).

To be continued.....................

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Sorry to inform that for the time being, I have disabled comment box as I won't be able to return visit to my fellow bloggers who are kind enough to drop me a line or two. The comment box will be enabled when I am not so tied up with my work schedule. However, you may contact me by leaving your message or comment at SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL AND HEALTHY LIVING FACEBOOK. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thanks for visiting my blog and have a nice day :) 

No sauce is needed for this pan-fried aromatic and flavorful lamb shoulder chops with extra garlic and mixed dried herbs as the meat itself is flavorful enough to tempt you

This year Father's Day, I decided to cook hubby's favorite pan grilled lamb shoulder chops!  This is such an easy peasy recipe and even my children can do it too.  Eating at home doesn't mean you need to sacrifice anything.  I get to really experience with different types of herbs and spices as well as our desired doneness.  I personally prefer rare and medium-rare but am a bit concern of some harmful bacteria that may still be present in the internal portions of the meat.  So most of the time I have it medium-rare and well done.   Still, many people (I am one of them!) prefer lamb cooked rare but this is up to individual's preference, but just be more caution of what we are eating.

Marinating the meat with mixed dried herbs and extra garlic, the meat is flavorful enough on its own and no sauce is required.  You may serve it with your favorite sauce if you like.  It's up to individual's preference.

Pan-Fried Aromatic and Flavorful Lamb Shoulder Chops with extra garlic and mixed dried herbs
Ingredients :
- 6 lamb shoulder chops
- 1tbsp olive oil
- Garlic powder

Marinade : (to taste)
- 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- 1tbsp dried basil
- 3 bulbs garlic, roughly chopped (I like the taste of the well-seasoned and grilled chopped garlic)
- 2tsp seasalt
- some freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Side Dishes (Optional) : Individual's preference
- potatoes (cut into your desired sizes)
- tomatoes (cut into your desired sizes)

Method :
1) Mix all the above marinade and rub on both sides of the chops until evenly coated.  Seal the chops in a ziploc bag and marinate for at least 4 hours and up to 12 in the refrigerator.

2) Take out the marinated chops and sprinkle some garlic powder on both sides of the chops. 

3)  Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan and pan fry the chops over medium high heat.  Cook to your desired doneness.

4) Meanwhile, if you still have enough space in the pan, go ahead and add in the tomatoes. (My main purpose of cooking the tomatoes together with the chops is to mix it together with the seasonings. It's very flavorful. This is optional)

5) Otherwise, just grilled the tomatoes and potatoes separately.

6) Serve the lamb shoulder chops with tomatoes and potatoes.

A delicious warming treat for the family

The meat is flavorful enough on its own with the extra garlic and mixed dried herbs and so, no sauce is required.

Here's wishing all my Muslim readers, #SALAM AIDILFITRI. MAAF ZAHIR BATIN#

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Sorry to inform that for the time being, I have disabled comment box as I won't be able to return visit to my fellow bloggers who are kind enough to drop me a line or two. The comment box will be enabled when I am not so tied up with my work schedule. However, you may contact me by leaving your message or comment at SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL AND HEALTHY LIVING FACEBOOK. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thanks for visiting my blog and have a nice day :) 

How to make Purple Sweet Potato Chinese Steamed Buns/Mantou (馒头) which are pillowy soft, fluffy and has a sweet aroma of sweet potato

Mantou (馒头) or Chinese Steamed Buns is a type of steamed bread which is popular in Northern China.

There are many variations of mantous be it plain, sweet or savory. You can even try out my steamed scallion flower bun.

Steamed Scallion Flower Buns

For this post, I am sharing with you a sweet purple coloured mantou. Don't worry, this is a natural purple colour from purple sweet potato.

This recipe is adapted from Boon's Secret Recipe 2 under 'My Wife's Signature Pumpkin Mantou'. I substituted the pumpkin with purple sweet potato as I happened to have it. 

Well, overall, this mantou is pillowy soft and very delicious.

Purple Sweet Potato Mantou
Recipe adapted from Boon's Secret Recipe 2 with minor modification

For those who are interested in simple and easy budget meals, local kuih-muih, desserts and snacks, you should get all his 3 series which come in handy whenever you want a comfort and warm meal for your family.  I have no regrets adding these 3 series to my existing cookbook collection.

Ingredients A:
- 500g purple sweet potato (pared off the skin and cut into small pieces)
- 480ml water (keep this water after boiling it with potato)
- some pandan leaves
Ingredients B :
- Sweet potato water from ingredients A
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 kg all purpose flour
- 1 sachet dried yeast
- 3 tbsp softened butter

Method for ingredients A - mashed purple sweet potato :-

1) Boil ingredients A over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and discard pandan leaves. Keep the sweet potato water (for ingredients B).

2) Remove sweet potato into a basin or big bowl and mash it.

Method for ingredients B dough - (please take note I used bread machine):-

1) Put in mashed sweet potato and all the ingredient B except butter as per your bread machine instruction.

2) Press dough function and let it knead.

3) When the dough is smooth, add in butter and continue the kneading process.

4) Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

5) Take out the dough and lightly hand knead it. Divide the dough into pieces according to your preferred size.

6) Roll and shape the dough any shape you like. I shaped it into buns.

7) Place the shaped buns on a greaseproof paper and let it rest for 15 minutes.

8) Steam over rapid boiling water over high heat for 13 minutes.
9) Serve warm.

Serve warm for breakfast or tea 

These mantous have sweet aroma of sweet potato 

This is recipe is a keeper. Try it and you will know what I mean. 

Note :
1) If dough is too dry, add a bit of water or if too wet, sprinkle some flour onto the dough.
2) You can freeze the steamed buns and re-steam the frozen buns (about 3 minutes) whenever you crave for it.

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Sorry to inform that for the time being, I have disabled comment box as I won't be able to return visit to my fellow bloggers who are kind enough to drop me a line or two. The comment box will be enabled when I am not so tied up with my work schedule. However, you may contact me by leaving your message or comment at SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL AND HEALTHY LIVING FACEBOOK. My sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thanks for visiting my blog and have a nice day :)