A long due reply

First of all, very, very sorry to my dear Dikwi for such a long delay to complete this task. Anyway, here goes!

Here are the rules to accept the award :

1. Thank & link the person that gave you the award. THANK YOU DIKWI

2. Pass this award onto 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and think are fantastic.

• All Around Ina
• Cupcakes Dream
• Nisza Beats & Peaces

3. Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won the award – I'm on the way!!!

4. State 7 things about yourself.

1) A kitchen addict - I resort to bread making to knead my anger away!

2) Caring

3) Love anything blue, green and brown but trying very hard to start accepting pink as also a nice shade of colour (err..sorry ya, Wi)

4) Love reading although hardly have the time to read

5) An avid recipe book collector

6) Love arts and craft

7) Adore nice wrapping papers - will buy them for no particular reason - love them to bits!

There! Finally it's done.

Cravings...

The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus defines craving as a strong desire or longing. Others would crave for new shoes, a new car or perhaps a new phone. Well, when it comes to cravings, mine would definitely be closely related to food and this usually involves giving more profit to the hypermarkets! It can be a can of condensed milk (although I only need to use a few tablespoonfuls) 'in case' my 'craving' to make my 'Apam Gula Hangus' arises or adding more ingredients to the already-stuffed larder so it is easier 'in case' my kids request for something special.

I'm a simple person when it comes to food. My cravings are usually very humble, easily and readily available. I will not deny that mood plays an important role in deciding what to eat and when is the best time to sample the food. For example, many would opt for sweet things just to get out of that annoying, depressive mood swing. Well, talking about sweet things, it is totally different with Mr KHz. He eats chocolates all the time and I can confirm that he's not depressed. Care to explain?

Have I told you that I hail from the kampung? As banana trees are in abundance and fresh bananas are always available, my Mak always serves this scrumptious treat at tea time. Piping-hot banana fritters or more deliciously known as 'pisang goreng' is never a failure to satisfy my need to have something sweet and crunchy. My preference would be to dip those oily chunks into a sweet and spicy soy sauce. With a cup of warm tea, life seems so blissful and all problems drift away.

"Goreng pisang panas! Goreng pisang panas!"

During both of my pregnancies, I craved for this sweet and cooling treat. I was very thankful that I did not suffer from diabetes or else, it would be a very tormenting period for me for I sampled this mostly every day! Yes, you read it right. Every day! Smooth, silky, cooling vanilla ice-cream. Nothing else but vanilla ice-cream. Just that.

Come the durian season, I will definitely go for this scrumptious fruit and I'll try my very best to go back to my hometown - just to satisfy another craving.

First, having a glorious time enjoying the fruit. Then, trying very hard to coax Mak (and my younger sister is very good at this as she always succeeded) to make the beauty in the photo below. Intoxicating, sweet, fragrant and chewy- all in one package.

The heavenly 'Kuih Koci Inti Durian'

And......to cut the long story short, I had another 'craving attack' yesterday. So...for lunch, I had a very satisfying meal. Cheap, simple and delicious!

Hot and Spicy Sardines

Well, dear readers, started to have cravings too? ;-)

After The Long Silence

Ahoy there! It's me again. Although I don't blog, I still find the time to keep on reading entries from my favourite sites and by doing this, I do feel at ease after my long, tiring day at work. Anyway, since this blog is about food and cooking, I managed to squeeze some time last Sunday to prepare a dish for my Mr KHz. I do miss cooking for him on a regular basis. On the other hand, I do feel grateful that he understands my situation at the moment (although he does mention that I haven't cooked his favourite meals for quite some time) so, here goes! To Mr KHz and his cherished tummy!

'KUETIAU KUNGFU'

This simple but satisfying dish was inspired by Mat Gebu ( with alteration, of course). After all, he is a master in the kitchen, so there's nothing to worry in trying his recipes. Well, the ingredients needed are:

A)

500g g flat rice noodles (kuetiau)

3 large eggs

B)

100g prawns (shelled but leave the tails intact)
150g chicken fillet (cubed)
100g squids (cleaned and cut into rings)

150g cauliflower (cut into florets)

150g broccoli (cut into florets)
1 medium size carrot (julienne)
3 pips of garlic (finely chopped)

2 red chillies (sliced)
2 tbsp of cooking oil
2 tbsp of cornflour, to be mixed with 1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp of chicken granules, to be mixed with 1/2 cup of hot water
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of ground white pepper

Method:

For the gravy

1. Heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the chopped garlic till fragrant.
2. Put in the prawns, chicken and squids. Pour in the chicken granules mixture, pepper, oyster sauce and carrot and let to boil over medium fire.
3. Next, put in the cauliflower and broccoli and the cornflour mixture and mix well.
4. Then, lower the heat and simmer till the vegetables are cooked and add salt to taste. Keep aside.

For the noodles:

1. First, beat the eggs in a bowl and keep aside.
2. Then, using a non-stick wok, heat the oil and put in the noodles. Stir fry for 2 minutes and pour in the beaten eggs over the noodles and keep stirring till the noodles are slightly brown and crisp.

To serve:

1. Put in the noodles into a bowl and spoon the gravy over the noodles.
2. Serve with sliced red chillies and fried shallots.