When Cikyah Turns Thirty-four

Hiya peeps! As I've mentioned in one of my earlier entries, birthdays carry different meanings to different people. This year, I am officially thirty-four years old. As the saying goes( hopefully), one year older and one year wiser.Usually, my birthdays were celebrated with beautiful sms from siblings and relatives and much awaited calls from Mak. Since I'm married to one who claims that he is unromantic, I never expects anything from him. It was kind of sad during the early years but I've grown accustomed to it. After all, Mr K did have a point when he said, "Why must we wait for certain days to celebrate love? Shouldn't it be ongoing?" Well, coming from an unromantic, I have to say yes to that statement.

Although Mr K has never been enthusiastic with birthdays, this time, he managed to remember mine. He mentioned that my birthday gift would be chocolates (as he is a choc addict) and I just kept quiet. When I came on from school last Saturday, Mr K, being unromantic as always, simply pointed at the plastic bag near my sewing machine. "Hmm..that's your birthday gift", and he continued reading. Since he rarely gives present, I grabbed the plastic bag and there it was! My dream item! Want to to what Mr K got me? Here it is.........

Can you see the writings on the box?

Tadaaaa! My New York model GreenPan!

Note: Although this means that Mr K expects me to cook more for him, I would rather take this gift as his token of appreciation for what I've done in the kitchen all these years. Hehe...syok sendiri kan?

Ahlan Ya Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

Good morrow peeps! How's your Monday? I bet, most of us find it rather hard to accept that it's another Monday. Why must the weekend be so short? The usual claim of not having enough rest, I suppose.

Anyway, personally, I'm looking forward to this Saturday because the Muslims will be celebrating the blessed month of Ramadhan. The best month in the Islamic calendar. I sincerely wish that the Almighty grants me the chance and strength to sail smoothly throughout this much awaited month. I have actually planned to ask my Atush to have a try at fasting- just like how Mak trained the six of us. She believes that a child should learn how to fast when he or she is six! I started fasting for a half day and within a week, I was able to complete fasting for the whole day. Nurturing is always best done at a tender age.

Ramadhan, to me, is forever a month full of memories. I can stil picture out Mak preparing wonderful dishes for iftar (the breaking of fast). I'm not talking about elaborate preparation. The dishes were still ordinary, daily dishes but they tasted good. Perhaps, this is why Ramadahan is called 'the month of barakah'. You don't only taste the food but you are being thankful for what the Almighty has given at the same time.

Talking about food, I want to share this recipe from the talented Mat Gebu but I have reduced the amount of chillies. It's easy to prepare and I feel that it would make a good side dish.

KERABU TELUR NYONYA

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 red onions

2 ripe tomatoes (cut into quarters, deseed and chopped into small pieces)

2 ginger torch (bunga kantan)

a handful of 'laksa' leaves shoots (pucuk daun kesom)

juice from 5 calamansi lime

1 and 1/2 tsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

2 red chillies

5 bird's eye chillies

1 pip of garlic

1 inch shrimp paste (toasted)

Method:

1. Fry each egg as an omellette, roll and slice thinly.
2. In a pestle and mortar, pound the red chillies, bird's eye chillies, sugar, salt, garlic and shrimp paste till fine. Put into a mixing bowl and pour the lime juice and mix till fine.
3. Shred all the other ingredients thinly and put into the mixing bowl with the pounded ingedients.
4. Put in the sliced omellette and chopped tomatoes and toss well. You may add, salt, sugar and lime juice according to your taste. Serve with hot rice and fried salted fish on the side.

Do I have to do IT just because I ate a piece of cheesecake yesterday?

Good evening peeps. Already looking forward to the weekends? Lucky you. Not me, though. Tomorrow, I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL! Yes! You read it right. Tomorrow, the world will see me exercising my whale-size body doing aerobics. Surprised? I was too! Actually, this programme is part of the school's campaign to collect funds to upgrade the existing facilities.

Just a question. Why aerobics? Why? What can exercise do to a whale? Ask my students. they will definitely agree that puan shah and exercise do not go hand in hand. Don't they know I have a COOKING BLOG? Don't they know that all excellent chefs are big-sized? Don't they watch the movie 'Ratatouille'? Is Gusteau the Chef thin? Why must it be aerobics? Why can't it be a canteen day? A day that I will enjoy tremendously. Tell me!

Well, so much of me being petty. In the name of preparing better facilities for the children, I will have to keep sane and Godwilling, drag my whale-body to school at such wee hour next morning. Wish me luck peeps. Anyway, moving to something so much better, let me share my cheesecake recipe that I have ammended from the recipe on the cream cheese packaging just because I want my vegetarian friend to enjoy it too! I was really glad that my other colleagues loved the outcome of my experiment. What about the taste? It was lip-smacking, baby!! And to think that I have to pay a dear price doing aerobics tomorrow just because I enjoyed it, certainly won't stop me from cooking and baking. Perhaps, the exercise would do me good. Should I pack my choc chip cupcakes for sale tomorrow? Good thinking, ay? What say you?

SIMPLE CHEESECAKE WITH CHOCOLATE SWIRLS

Do you like what you see? You do? Then.......

Have a closer look!

To enjoy this scrumptious delight, you need:

For the base:

• 20 pieces digestive biscuits
• 4 oz butter (melted)
• a 10 inch x10 inch square cake tin with loose base

For the topping:

• 2 x 250g packets of cream cheese ( I used Tatura Brand cream cheese- it's cheaper)
• 300ml condensed milk
• 100ml evaporated milk
• 2 tsp gelatine ( I used Halagel brand- easily available now at leading hypermarkets)
• 1/4 cup of boiling water
• 1/2 tsp of chocolate emulco

For the delectable palate:

1. Put the biscuits into a plastic bag. Using a rolling pin, crush till fine.
2. Pour in the melted butter and mix well and put into the cake tin. Use a potato masher, level the mixture.
3. Put your cake tin in the freezer.
4. Next, pour your gelatine powder into the cup of boiling water and stir till dissolve. Just a note. DO NOT pour liquid onto gelatine for it will never dissolve. It should always be gelatine into water and not the other way around. I learn it the hard way!
5. Next, cut your cream cheese blocks into small pieces and put into a mixer fixed with a pedal. Beat your cream cheese till light and fluffy.
6. Put in your gelatine mixture, both condense and evaporated milk and stir till smooth and well-mixed using a balloon whisk.
7. Save 2 tbsp of this mixture and mix with the chocolate emulco into a smooth paste. Put into a piping bag and keep aside.
8. Pour your cheese mixture onto the chilled based.
9. Pipe your chocolate paste across the cheese topping. The more lines you have, the finer your swirls will look.
10. To create the swirl/ feathery look, use a toothpick/ cake tester against the drawn lines.
11. Refrigerate overnight. Then

*This cake melts if it is left at room temperature so it is best to be kept refrigerated.

Another Puffn Muffin Recipe

Hi folks! In this entry, I would like to share a simple muffin recipe, which I think, is taken from at MyResipi.com. but as usual, freely ammended by, yours truly. I made these muffins after realizing that there was a packet of fresh blueberries which I bought last week. Yup! That's me. Love to spend my money on numerous ingredients but always forget to figure out what to do with them. Luckily these blueberries were still okay. Why don't you try baking these babies. They will surely brighten up your morning!

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1 Grade C egg

1/4 cup low-fat yoghurt

150g fresh blueberries

paper cups

Method:

• Preheat your oven at 170C.
• In a big mixing bowl, put the sugar, egg, oil and milk and stir till well-mixed.
• Next, using a spatula, fold in the flour.
• Put the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into paper cups. I used 16 -20z-size paper cups.
• Then, put in the blueberries into the cups.
• Bake for 25 minutes till a skewer inserted into your muffins comes out clean.
• Enjoy!

Note: These muffins keep well in an airtight container in the fridge. What I usually do is, reheating them in the microwave oven for a scrumptious breakfast served with tea.

Tried, Tested and Tasted

Hiya peeps! Hope that all planned is running smoothly. In this entry, I am going to write about a product which has helped me a lot in the process of preparing yummy meals for the family. I discovered this after countless visits to MyResipi.com and finally decided to have a try. Want to know about it? Here it is.............................

Kawan Brand Puff Pastry

Sincerely, I feel really blessed for discovering this product because it is easy to use. Selling at RM4.69 for ten square pieces, it is really affordable. All you need to do is to prepare the filling of your choice(and the choice is limitless), put some onto a piece of pastry, fold and seal the edges using a fork. Brush it with some egg wash and bake for 15 minutes and walla! You would get a bakery-look-alike product. Hence, every mom should keep this handy product in the freezer, unless you are willing to make your puff pastry from scratch!

For your information, I have taken the trouble to introduce this product to those in my hometome. As a result, it has become an instant favourite. Ayah loves it so much and NekIbu had personally asked me to prepare some for her youngest son's wedding. Of course, a kitchen-addict like me won't turn down such favour. Felt glad that she enjoyed it.

The craze to experiment this product using different types of filling was heightened by the price of a piece of chicken puff at a local bakery I used to go to, which is similar to half a packet of the pastry itself! After my first trial, I'm hooked. Thanks to Mr K, who happens to enjoy the puffs' flaky and crispy layers, which adds more to the addiction. In fact, he actually reminded me a few days ago that I have not made his favourite meat puffs for quite some time. Perhaps, I should go down to the kitchen right now and start preparing the filling so I can prepare some for his supper later. Before that, here are the outcomes of my sessions with my dear puff pastry. Enjoy! You might be inspired to try too!

TUNA PUFFS

SAUSAGE ROLLS

CHICKEN PIE

An Inspired Dish

Hi peeps! In this entry, I would feature a dish initially done by Mr K's aunt who resides in Singapore. It was some time last year when I had the chance to see her preparing this dish when she came for a visit. Of course, the ever nosy me had asked for the recipe and I mentioned that I would be putting it in my blog. She gave the recipe but she had told me not to share it with others since it's her family's. Since I respect her, I have decided to feature this dish inspired by her after my trial and error session in the kitchen yesterday morning without revealing her original recipe. I managed to come up with this dish using her cooking techniques but the ingredients were my own concoction. Hence, feast your eyes upon......................

ROAST CHICKEN AUNTIE KAK ONI'S STYLE

To cook this dish, you need:

• 1 chicken (cleaned and cut into two)
• 8 shallots
• 5 pips of garlic
• 2 cm piece of ginger
• 3 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp of sweet soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of freshly ground black peppercorns
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil
• enough water to submerge the chicken

Method:

• Preheat your oven at 200C for 15 minutes.
• First, ground the shallots, garlic and ginger.
• Heat the oil in a tall pot and strir fry ground ingredients till fragrant and pour in the water and let to boil.
• Next, put in the rest of the ingredients and put in the chicken.
• Over medium heat, let the chicken cook in the broth. By the time your chicken is cooked, you should have a thick gravy.
• Line your roasting pan with an aluminium foil and place your chicken. Pour the remaining gravy on top of your chicken.
• Reduce your oven temperature to 180C and bake till the skin is crispy. I bake the chicken for 10 minutes.
• Once cooked, take out from the oven and let to rest for 10 minutes.
• Transfer onto a serving dish and spoon the chicken juice in the roasting pan on top of your chicken to keep it moist.
• Enjoy!

From Padang Jambu With Love

Last Saturday, I finally managed to go back to my hometown. The journey was smooth and as usual, when I'm around, it is definitely the time for 'makan-makan' and I would be more than willing to prepare/ try dishes with my siblings and my nephew and nieces, as well as my cousins. Yup! We love food very, very much. Get-togethers mean food, lots of fun and more food!

When it comes to food, we prefer home-cooked meals. Why? It has been practised since I was a wee girl. Frankly,being born into a large family certainly has its advantages. Half of the period of my younger years were filled with a lot of trial and error sessions in my Mak's kitchen. Mak believes that any dishes are possible to be prepared at home. You just name any dish and she would try to get it done. Since my Ayah does not really favour eating out, except on certain special family ocassions, he is very lucky to have Mak who is willing to slave herself cooking all his favourite dishes. Having a father (who thinks that wives who do not cook are lazy wives-please pardon him), certainly motivated Mak to spend more time in the kitchen. I do not blame my Ayah because his late mom (my Nenek) was a superb cook. It was from her that Mak learned how to make salted duck eggs, salted fish, shrimp paste (yes, you read it right-we used homemade 'belacan' in our cooking when Nenek was around) and those wonderful mouth-watering 'kuih'. My Ayah also firmly believes that homemade dishes are certainly better in terms of freshness and taste. Have I told you that we got to enjoy fresh fish because he loves fishing? Unfortunately, his heart condition had forced him to forget his favourite activity.

Having parents who are very passionate in home-prepared food is one of the reasons why I am into cooking. Mak used to mention that cooking equals love. To instil love between family members, Mak believes that home-cooked meals should be prepared with love and care. When you cook for your family, you actually show that you love them. I believe that this is very true. We can venture any eateries, taste different types of food but there would always be one dish that we keep dear to our hearts. It can be a simple chicken curry or a very elaborate 'rendang' but the one, specially treasured dish, can only be prepared by mothers for they keep that special ingredient called 'a mother's touch'. I can prove this just by taking Mr K as an example. He enjoys the food I prepared but I can never match his mom's 'cucur udang'. No matter how hard I try ( and I had personally witnessed how my mom-in-law prepared hers step-by-step since we live under the same roof), my version could never reach that standard. Now I have understood what 'air tangan ibu' in cooking means. So, loving mothers, cook for your children.

Want to know how I spent my limited time in Padang Jambu? Just moments after arriving, I had this scrumptious fit-for-a king fruit . Of course, I did not stop at only one fruit. I do not know about other durian lovers but I find freshly-opened durian tastes better than its ready-packed cousins. It has what true durian lovers call as 'the kick'. That aromatic smell and sweet-custardy-slightly bitter heavenly taste!

Durian! Glorious Durian!

Later that evening, we had these. Specially plucked from its tree in front of the house. Mak had painstakingly taken the trouble to keep the fruits on the tree just to show to my children. Ahh.....a grandmother's love. Priceless!

Sweet home-grown rambutans

Savouring-the-durian episode just did not really end after the durian-eating session . My younger sister had mentioned her craving for 'kuih koci with sweet coconut and durian filling' using the durian flesh which Mak had graded as not good enough. My sister's request had produced this.

'Kuih Koci' with sweet coconut and durian filling

Last but not least, I had to do my share. I was asked to prepare this chicken dish.

Spicy Sticky Chicken

So...what do you think? Did I have a great time? It was superbly fantastic. By the way, have I told you that my Atush had actually asked if we could delay going back to PJ? I found this to be rather touching and I am looking forward to my next 'balik kampung' trip. Till then, have a fun Sunday!