Food Does Bring People Together

Through facebook, this friend of mine managed to locate me after more than five years of not meeting one another. She's my junior both at secondary school as well as in college. In short, both of us end up as teachers! Started with a simple hello in facebook, it continued with chatting and later, phone conversations. Finally, we decided to meet and I invited her for lunch at my place.

Since I am aware of the fact that she is a superb baker and bakes wonderful cupcakes, I was kind of worried of what to prepare for her. I gave her a call and she mentioned 'masak asam'. I'd expected this for both of us are Malaccans. There could not be another appropriate dish to celebrate our 'mini' get-together. We chatted over lunch and it was time for dessert. I served Mini Mixed Fruits Tartlets and 'Rojak Buah'. Here are the recipes.

MINI MIXED FRUITS TARTLETS

Ingredients :

For the pastry:

125g butter

60g icing sugar

1 egg yolk

220g flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

For the custard filling:

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp custard flour

4 tbsp caster sugar

1 cup / 250ml fresh milk

1 egg

1 tbsp / 30 g butter

1/2 a medium can of mixed fruits (drain the juice)

Method:

• For the pastry, combine all the ingredients and mix well until the mixture forms a soft dough.
• Take a small amount of dough and roll out to 5mm thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds to fit into your moulds. Use your fingers to to press the pastry to fit into the well. Use a small knife to trim the edges.
• Heat the oven at 175C. Using a fork, prick holes in the middle of the pastry.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Take out from the oven and keep aside to cool.

• For the custard filling, put the flour, custard flour and sugar into a small pot. Using 2 tbsp of the milk, stir until the mixture is well-mixed.
• Put in the egg and mix again.
• Pour in the remaining milk and stir.
• Using a balloon whisk, stir the filling mixture continuously, using a double-boiler method.
• Cook until the mixture thickens and let to cool.

• To assemble your tartlets, spoon/pipe the custard filling onto the tartlet casings and decorate with the mixed fruits.
• Serve your tartlets within 2-3 hours after to prevent them from getting soggy.
• Enjoy!

ROJAK BUAH WITH HOMEMADE SAUCE

Ingredients:

A selection of pineapple, cucumber, 'sengkuang', raw mango, 'jambu air" (cut into bite size pieces)

For the sauce:

1 bottle / 340ml of chilli sauce

1/2 bottle / 175ml of sweet soy sauce

1 medium piece of palm sugar ('gula melaka')

4cm toasted shrimp paste ('belacan')

10 birds eye chillies ('cili api')

1/2 cup of toasted, ground peanuts

Method:

• For the sauce, mix all the ingredients and cook over a medium fire. Stir continuously.
• Cook until the mixture thickens.
• Put your selected fruits into a bowl and pour in the sauce.
• Mix well until all the fruits are evenly coated with the sauce and transfer into a plate.
• Sprinkle the toasted peanuts on the top and enjoy!

'WAT TAN HOR'

Hi! It's me again. For today's entry, the dish would be 'Wat Tan Hor' or in simple words, Kuey Teow Fried In Soy Sauce with Egg Gravy. Whooo! The Chinese name is certainly much simpler. I had my first taste of this dish way back in 1998. My sister, Abbot introduced it to me when we had dinner at Jusco Melaka Food Court. I really enjoyed it! The version that I had did not use any soy sauce to fry the noodles but it came with a small plate of sliced red chillies in light soy sauce to enhance the taste. Try this version and let me know the verdict, ya! This recipe is from che 'iza@MyResipi.com.

'WAT TAN HOR' or KUEY TEOW FRIED IN SOY SAUCE WITH EGG GRAVY

You will need :

For the noodles

350 g of kuey teow

2 pips of garlic (bashed and chopped roughly)

1 tsp of dark soy sauce

1 tbsp sweet soy sauce

2 tbsp of oyster sauce

2 tsp of ground white pepper

For the gravy:

2 pips of garlic (bashed and chopped finely)

1 tbsp of chopped ginger

8 prawns(shelled)

1 chicken breast(diced)

2 baby corn (sliced thinly)

1/2 carrot (sliced thinly)

1 cup of cauliflower

1 cup of broccoli

1 tsp of chicken granules

500ml water

1 tbsp cornflour (to be mixed with one tbsp of water)

salt to taste

Method :

• For the kuey teow,heat the oil and fry the garlic until fragrant. Then, put in the kuey teow.
• Stir well and put in the other ingredients. Mix well and put aside.
• For the gravy, heat the oil and fry the garlic until fragrant.Then, put in the water and let to boil.
• Then, put in all the ingredients and let it boil again.
• Put in the cornflour mixture and stir.
• Crack the egg and stir so the egg cooked into thin strips. Add salt to taste.
• To serve, pour the gravy over the prepared kuey teow.
• Serve with thin slices of red chillies soaked in light soy sauce.
• Enjoy!

The Comfort Food

Do you like ice cream? Who doesn't? Ice cream has always been the choice to soothe one's troubled mind and emotions and a good tool to ease out the pain. It is a wonder what ice cream can do to you. Can you imagine the cooling yet fuzzy feeling when the soft, sweet tasting ice cream travels down your throat? You will feel good instantly.

There are so many ways to enjoy ice cream. During my younger years, having a scoop of ice cream on a wafer cone was more than enough to make my day! Does eating ice cream sandwiched between two pieces of white bread sound familiar to anyone? It can also be enjoyed with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with toasted peanuts or simply carry the container and slump yourselt in front of the telly. Armed with a metal spoon, scoop after scoop does make the movie appear better. In fact, ice cream has been the loyal listener (and ever willing friend) to many stories of break-ups and heartbreaks.

Nowadays, ice cream comes in so many forms and yes, names. You can call it McFlurry or Blizzard but it is simply ice cream to me. Be it Haagen Daaz, Baskin Robins or the one sold by the ice cream man, ice cream will remain my top comfort food. Try this simple ice cream recipe. It is my kids' favourite (and my father-in-law's too!). You won't regret it.

SIMPLE VANILLA ICE CREAM

Ingredients:
2 cups of fresh milk ( I used low-fat)
2 cups of coffeemate (this is a non-dairy creamer)
2 tbsp of sugar (you can adjust the amount)

2 tsp of vanilla essence

Method:

• In a mixer/food processor, mix all ingredients until well-mixed and frothy.
• Then, put into a metal tray/container and freeze.
• When it is half frozen, take out and mix in the mixer. Freeze again.
• Repeat step 3.
• To enjoy your ice cream, take out from the freezer and leave aside for 5 minutes for easy scooping.
• Enjoy!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY FIRDAUS!

On Sunday, May 25th, my darling Firdaus turned two! How time really zooms. Here are two simple dishes that I prepared for him. Mashed potato with gravy and Sticky Chicken Wings. Simple yet satisfying. For those beginners who want to venture into the cooking world, I recommend these two recipes.

Mashed Potato with Gravy

2 potatoes (peeled and boiled)

2 tbsp of fresh milk

2 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp of parsley flakes

salt to taste

Method :

• Mashed the potato and add in the butter. Mix well.
• Put in the milk and mix again.
• Sprinkle the parsley flakes and add salt to taste.

For the gravy

1/2 white onion (chopped)

1/2 stick of celery (diced)

2 and 1/2 tbsp of chicken stock

1 tbsp of flour

1 and 1/2 tbsp of butter

1/2 tsp of dark soy sauce

1/2 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

salt (taste the gravy before putting in the salt because the soy sauce is already salty)

Method :

• Boil the onion and celery with the chicken stock for 15 minutes and strain. Keep the liquid aside.
• Heat the butter and put in the flour. Fry until the flour does not stick to the side of the pot.
• Pour in the liquid gradually and add the soy sauce. Stir until thick.
• Put in the black pepper and mixed herbs. Serve with mashed potato.

STICKY CHICKEN WINGS
12 chicken wings (cut into two)
2 pips unpeeled garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp of salty soy sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp oil

• First, heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the garlic until fragrant. Then, put in the chicken wings, soy sauce and fish sauce and fry for 5 minutes.
• Then, put in the honey and cover. Stir every 10 minutes.
• Cook until the sauce has coated the chicken wings.
• Enjoy your chicken wings.

It Is Finally Here!

Good morrow everybody. Yes! The school break is finally here. More time to spend on cooking and blogging? Perhaps. I made some 'dadih' yesterday and it turned out to be slightly watery. I think I did not put enough 'agar-agar' strips into the mixture. It was fine the first time I made it. However, it still tastes okay (at least...)

Soo....what dish should I prepare today? Have been thinking to have my mother's delicious 'asam pedas'. I can eat asam pedas everyday! Imagine, a bowl of asam pedas ikan parang and a plate of hot rice. Just thinking of it can make me drool. My siblings and I love to eat our asam pedas by spooning the gravy onto the rice and adding drops of sweet soy sauce. The taste is definitely the end of the world!

Since I'm from Malacca (and very proud of it), I want to share some points on my favourite dish. At my place, 'asam pedas' is referred as 'asam tumis' or 'masak asam'. This is to differentiate it from 'asam rebus' which uses no oil at all. The best fish to use for asam pedas is definitely 'ikan parang' (snake ling). However, many use 'tenggiri'(mackerel) or 'kembung'(er...I'm not sure about the English name). Actually, the ingredient that determines the taste of the asam pedas is the 'belacan'! Yes, the strong smelling shrimp paste. Any die-hard Malaccan asam pedas cook would be very particular about the choice of 'belacan'. Sounds funny, huh? Funny but true! With good quality belacan, your asam pedas will definitely taste better!

Enough of my blabbering. Here's my mother's asam pedas recipe.

MASAK ASAM PADANG JAMBU

Ingredients:
4 pieces of ikan parang ( cut into 4 inch width or 1/2 kg of mackerel)
*2 onions
*2 pips of garlic
*a thumb size of ginger
*a thumb size of fresh turmeric
*15 dried chillies (cleaned and cut into small pieces and soaked in hot water)
*belacan
1 stalk of lemongrass (bruised)
tamarind (asam jawa) (the size of a village chicken egg, to be mixed with 1/2 bowl of water)
a bunch of 'daun kesum'
5 ladies fingers (topped and tailed)
oil
salt to taste
1/4 tsp of sugar(optional)


Method :
1. First, grind finely all the ingredients marked *.
2. Heat oil in a pot over a medium fire and pour in the ground ingredients. Put in the lemongrass. Fry until fragrant and the oil separates from the gravy.(In Malay, we call it 'pecah minyak')
3. Pour in the 'asam jawa' juice and let to boil. Then put in the fish and lower down the heat. Simmer gently for 5 minutes and put in the ladies fingers. Let to simmer again until the vegetable is soft.
4. Add salt and sugar to taste. Serve with plain, hot rice.


Notice the measurement? You may wonder, "Whose thumb should be used as the measurement? What size of bowl to use to measure the water? How big is the village chicken egg?" That's what we call the 'agak2 method', which means.....you have to cook more often to get the best taste of this dish. All you need to do is to try. Indeed, cooking is not about talent. It's totally about practice. The more practice you have, the better you would be. Just be careful that you do not burn the kitchen down! hahaha.....One more thing that I notice about coking is, if you are not happy, your dish would not turn out well! It happened to me! In short, cook and smile! Happy cooking.

FROM ONE ANGRY MONSTER TO ANOTHER....

Hello people. This time, I have to apologize because today's entry is definitely fiery and boiling but it is not about cooking! It's about people's attitudes and as the result, I am the victim. Why do I always have to be held responsible for the things that did not do? Ni marah tahap Gaban ni!

Have anyone heard of Spidey's famous quote- "With great power comes great responsibility'? However, to some, "When you have power, abuse it" Muahahahahaha! A normal , sane, human being would be able to differentiate the rights from the wrongs. Unfortunately, abnormal, power-crazed, 'dungu' human beings can turn wrongs into rights according to their selfish, personal needs just because they believe that they are hollier than the rest and thus, they know better. Apa kes la kan?

However, since those dungus can never be succesful in destroying my life, I would rather write on something more interesting. Food perhaps? Since I always believe that food is the best cure for everything turns bad, here's the recipe of my all time favourite, apam balik. Where do I get the recipe from? Of course, my ever-trusted MyResipi.com. Have a try!





APAM BALIK PASAR PETANG

2 cups of flour

1 and 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 cup of peanuts (toasted and pounded coarsely)(mixed with 2 tbsp of sugar)

1 cup of cream style corn

• In a mixer, blend the sugar and egg well.


• Then, pour in the water, soda bicarbonate and baking powder and mix again.


• Next, pour in the flour and mix until the mixture resembles a pancake consistency.


• After that, heat up a 10-inch diameter non-stick pan over medium fire. To test whether the pan is hot enough, srpinkle some water and if it sizzles, you can pour your batter.


• Then, when you see bubbles forming around the edges of your apam, sprinkle the peanut and put the corn at the centre of your apam.


• Fold into two and cut into wedges. Enjoy!

Just me being me.......

Hi! It's me again. I know it's a little too much to have another update but just trying to upload photos without hubby's help. It looked very easy peasy when he did it. hm..let's see whether it works!

Yippee! It worked. I know this blog is suppossed to feature things related to cooking but as the title goes, me being me, (as a mother, of course), I just want to share this photo with everyone. I guess kids look the most angelic when they're asleep( and this is the time that makes you feel regretful for scolding them....*sigh).Looking at this photo makes me wonder. Would these two brother and sister be this close when they have lives of their own? I really pray to the Almighty that they would be caring towards each other, Aminn.

Since this blog is about cooking, my girl, Halimatus (the one in the yellow pyjama) can survive with just egg fried with butter and kicap manis on hot rice. That's how simple she is. Oh yes, she's into baking as well. She loves helping me baking her favourite chocolate chips cookies and of course, cupcakes decorating.

As for Firdaus, he used to be a very good eater but not anymore. As I've written earlier, he does not fancy rice lately. He is still on my milk and he's turning two this coming 25th. So, as part of my lame attempts to make sure that he has all the nutrients needed, I have been a very loyal Calci-Yum customer for the past four months. Unfortunately, he refuses that as well. Surprisingly, he's taken a liking on my homemade 'dadih'! Haha..I finally managed to make him take formula! Go Firdaus!

One Potato, Two Potatoes, Three Potatoes Four...

Ahoy there! It's me trying to get familiar with this blogging thingy. How should I start?

See the photo above? Hmmm...yes! My potato bread is finally a reality(after existing in the recipe book for ages..hehe). Actually, my initial attempt to bake this bread is to make sure that my boy firdaus has something to eat. He has been rejecting rice for nearly a week! Could he appear concerned on the prices of rice recently? Should I be thankful? Frankly, I wouldn't mind paying as long as he eats.

Whenever I bake, the colleagues at school will be my ever ardent and loyal food tasters!(Thank you guys). Through this blog, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to those recipe contributors at MyResipi.com for the excellent, scrumptious and 'gerenti jadi' recipes! Keep up the wonderful work!

To those who feel like trying, here's the recipe that I got from one of the recipe websites. I cannot remember the contributor so if you come across this blog, thank you sooo much.

POTATO BREAD

Ingredients :
300g high protein flour
50g caster sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tbsp powdered milk
2 tsp instant yeast
1 egg
175ml cold water
60 g mashed potato
30g butter

Method:

• Mix the flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk and yeast.
• Then, put in the egg and cold water and mix until the mixture forms a dough.
• Put in the mashed potato and butter and knead well until dough becomes soft and elastic.
• Cover dough and let rise for 45 minutes. Then, punch the dough to let out the air. Leave covered for another 15 minutes.
• Shape dough into small balls and arrange them in a greased baking tray. Leave to rise for another 45 minutes.
• Bake at 180C for 25 minutes. You may need to adjust the temperature depending on your oven.

HAPPY BAKING!

Welcome To My Kitchen

Good morrow to everyone. This is my first attempt to start a blog. Since cooking and baking have been my passion, I guess this blog would be a nice place for me to share my favourite recipes and cooking tips with all of you out there. Being an amateur in this field, I guess, updating this blog will certainly take ages for me to master!