Joyee Cooks: Thai Style Burger Patty

Recipe altered from blue ribbon, hot model, Cheff Coco's original recipe:

Ingredients:

• Minced pork 300 gram

• 1/2 onion (diced and cooked till translucent)

• 2 tbs breadcrumbs (opt out if you are on a keto diet, but discard 1/2 an egg)

• 2 tbs yellow or red curry paste

• 4 lemon leaves (stem removed and finely chopped)

• 1 egg

• 1 tbs fish sauce

• a dash of salt

• a dash of pepper

• 2 tsp sesame oil

Procedure:

1.) Add diced onion into minced pork. Combine well.

2.) Add egg and mix well

3.) Add condiments and mix well (except for oil)

4) Add curry leaves, then sesame oil and mix well.

5.) Heat cast iron pan or wok with a tablespoon of oil.

6.) Scoop pork mixture and mold it into a burger patty form and place it gently onto the preheated pan. Brown both sides

7.) Add 3 tbs of water into the pan and cover it with a lid. let it steam cook until all the water evaporates. Flip the patty to the other side and repeat the process.

8.) Once all the water evaporates, turn off the heat and let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes (to ensure it's totally cooked through)

9.) Serve

* If you are unable to find curry leaves, you may substitute it with 3 tbs finely chopped lemon grass. Or add both if you have them!

Her original recipe could be found here

Ideas: Serve with rice or pasta

Taste: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Recipe keeper? Yes

Pros:

- healthy

-aromatic but not overpowering.

- No sugar which means it’s Keto friendly!!

Cons: NA

604: Hei Hei Rice Roll (Richmond)

Seems like there are a lot more hidden gems at the Richmond Public Market Food Court these days. Recently, there's this new Rice Roll hype circulating around Vancity. This Hei Hei Rice Roll food stall boasts about their hand roll rice rolls from choosing and grinding quality rice to form their secret rice roll batter, then steaming and rolling them into rice rolls.

Their opening hour was 11 and they start accepting orders at 10:50. When I arrived at 10:55, there was already a massive line. By the time I got to put in my order and got my rice rolls, it was already 11:20. That's a pretty long wait for a Monday morning in Richmond. Normally every where is dead in the morning in Richmond.

This is my first time trying these Guan Dong style rice rolls and the texture is quite interesting; but since I've never had it before I'm not sure how authentic it is or how it should taste like.

The rice rolls are thin and has a reasonable amount of meat in it. Amongst the three meats - shrimp, pork and beef - my favourite was the shrimp. The shrimps are on the firmer side and is mildly crunchy, so you know they use better quality shrimps. The beef and pork rice rolls are stuffed with flattened minced meat, that is mildly gamey and sticks to your teeth slightly. I'm not used to this texture and taste since the Hong Kong Dim Sum style beef rice rolls are normally very aromatic with the cilantros and dry orange peels, and the beef texture are a lot smoother (they probably add a lot more oil). I've also never had pork rice rolls before and that's my least favourite since it's on a blander side.

I also ordered the plain ones because that really puts the chef's culinary skills on a test. Their plain rice rolls are soft and a little chewy. I've never had rice rolls that's chewy so I was a little thrown off by it. I quite like the chewiness but I have definitely had softer rice rolls in Hong Kong. For every bite of the plain rice roll, I made sure it was completely drenched in soy sauce, sesame sauce and Hoison sauce. By the end of the meal, I wasn't sure if the condiments was the main and the rice rolls were the sides; but that's not important. That's the proper way to eat it and it was delicious. That being said, I still prefer the rice rolls from NamShan - they make the softest rice rolls!

On a side note, my other favourite stalls at the Richmond Public Market include the Xi An Cuisine and the Peanut's Bubble Tea.

Location: Here

💵 Price:$5.5 to $8.5 - steam rice rolls

🤤Taste: 4.7 / 5

📈 Price Performance ratio: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Retention Rate: 50 / 50

🕯Atmosphere: NA

🪑Seating: Food court seating

📍 Richmond

Pros:

- Made fresh

- Thin rice rolls

- A great and light breakfast / lunch

- Great value

Cons:

- Long wait

604: Crispy Falafel Lebanese Donair (Surrey)

This place is located in an awkward location between a busy intersection at King George and 24 Avenue in South Surrey. So awkward that it's hard to make a turn into the strip mall if you are at the wrong side of the busy street. I had always spotted this place and wanted to give it a try but never had the chance to, because I'm always at the wrong side of the street on my way home. Tonight I decided to make a trip there as I was feeling pretty lazy tonight and did not want to cook.

A few things worth praising:

• I asked for the staff's recommendation since it's my first time visiting, and she gave a sample of every single meat.

• Excellent value!

• Delicious

• It's made fresh

The chicken is apparently the best seller here at this location. It's juicy and moist. The beef was alright - it was a little stringy. My favourite was the lamb since it's the most flavourful of all. Overall, the shawarma was delicious. The wrap is crispy and it's packed with your choice of meat with a perfect kick of spiciness. Inside it's herby and flavourful with the perfect meat to vegetable ratio. Mind you! It can get very messy with the dripping sauce. I got it all over my hands.

I love the lamb shawarma but I'm not a huge fan of their desserts. The desserts are also pretty costly (mainly cause it didn't taste good so I don't see the value in this).

Next time, I'd like to try their kabobs!

UPDATE:

Returned to Crispy Falafel to try out their skewers / kebab. Slightly disappointed with the portion of the skewers as it was on the thinner side so it didn't feel as meaty and it wasn't very satisfying for the meat lover. In terms of the taste, it's pretty good but not mind blowing. For $17.99 + tax, it's pretty expensive with the lack of meat. All else has a generous portion though.

Multiple Locations in Surrey:

King George || Grandview Central Shopping Centre || Cedar Hills

Menu: Here

💵 Price: Under $10 - $18 (without desserts and sides)

🤤Taste:

• Donair: 4.6/ 5

• Greek style Baklava (the rectangular one): 2.6 / 5

• Lebanese style Baklava (in a roll form) : 2.3 / 5

• Skewers: 3 / 5

🕯Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️

🪑Seating: ⭐️⭐️

📈 Price Performance ratio: 5 / 5

Retention Rate: 100% for the Donair

📍 South Surrey - King George

Pros:

Shawarma:

🌯 The lamb shawarma is delicious!

🌯 It’s made fresh! The wrap is crispy! The filling is saucy, herby, and has a perfect kick of spiciness

🌯 Loaded with meat

🌯 Excellent value

Drawbacks:

🍰 I’d pass on the dessert next time

🍰The Lebanese style Baklava: I’m not exactly sure what I had.. almost felt like I ate a sweetened, scrunched up stack of newspaper 📰

🍰 Greek style baklava: They used mostly sugar rather than honey. Sorta crispy but it’s a stale kind of crispy with a chew ☹️

* Skewers: on the thinner side.

* Skewers: Pretty expensive