Showing posts from September, 2009

Vegetable And Pasta soup

September 30, 2009
Time to watch the diet again after 'chow down' of the glorious festive food! The Vegetable and Pasta Soup is so light and lovely ... to go with crusty bread.... lots of fibre too... 300g cauliflower - cut in florets 1 carrots - chunky cut 1 zucchini - chunky 1 tomato - chunky 1 cup of pasta - any shape 1 onion - chopped 2 garlic - crushed 2 celery stick - chunky cut 1 canned diced tomatoes 1 litre beef stock (water + cube stock) 1 teaspoon dried herb mix seasoning Saute onion and garlic in 2 tablespoon olive oil. Add the chunky cut vegetable with can tomatoes. Stir for few minutes. Add the mixed herb and stock. Bring to boil and add pasta. Season to taste.


Celebrations...

September 29, 2009
We had a 'small get together' for Raya ... last Sunday... The weather was kind to us... the sun was shining with gentle breeze ....It was brilliant!! The bonus for the day was the 'less of the buzzing, annoying flies' .. We were able to dine with comfort in the backyard.... The Spread : Chicken Curry Nasi Kunyit Salad Egg in Yoghurt Sauce Beef Rendang Nasi tomato Prawns in Sweet Chilli Sauce Ayam Percik Coconut Cake and Passionfruit icing Our heartfelt thanks to our friends with their 'Buah Tangan' (our Malaysian customary when visiting, to bring something along eg food, fruits etc)


Creamy Fish Pie

September 28, 2009
The whole family love pot pies.... Filo pastry gives a nice crispy crunch to the pie...yummmm 400g white fish fillets - chopped 200g smoked fish - chopped 1 onion - chopped 1 cup of frozen peas 400g potatoes - chopped 1 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup flour 20g butter 4 pieces filo pastry* Saute the onion in butter. Add flour and mix well. Add milk and keep stirring... until well combine. The mixture will thickens and add peas and potatoes. Keep stirring for few minutes. Once the mixture bubbles, add the smoke fish and chopped fish fillets. Season with pepper. Divide into grease ramekins. Top with scrunch up filo pastry and give it a good oil spray. Bake at 200C for 5 minutes or until golden.... Tip: the recipe stated to use puff pastry, then cut the puff pastry to fit the top of the ramekins. Brush with egg and bake for 20 minutes at 200C. * I had filo pastry in my fridge and if I dont use it it will go mouldy!!!! Why waste...


Coconut Cake with Passionfruit Icing

September 26, 2009
Baking cake has never been as easy as this... need not ' cream ' the butter with sugar etc... One of my favourites cook cum chef cum author ... learnt a lot of cooking tips from Ms Janelle....this one is from her new cook book.... 2 1/3 cups dessicated coconut 1 1/3 cups caster sugar 2 1/2 cups self raising flour - sifted 2 2/3 cups of coconut milk 2 eggs at room temperature - lightly beaten Combine dessicated coconut, flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add coconut milk and eggs. Mix well. Pour in a greased cake pan. Bake at 170C (no fan) for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean. Stand for 10 minutes in the pan before turning onto a wire rack. Passionfruit glaze 1 1/2 cups icing sugar 2 fresh passionfruit - halved Sift icing sugar into a microwave safe bowl. Add 2 tablespoon of passionfruit pulp. Stir to form a very thick paste. Microwave uncovered for 30-40sec on high until warm and runny. Pour warm glaze over and leave it to set. ~Fast, fabulous and fres


Beef,Noodle,Veg stir fry with Black Bean sauce

September 25, 2009
This simple noodle stir fry would make a nice change to the festive food like rendang , ketupat and briyani... 1 packet of Hokkien noodle 800g 400g beef - thinly sliced 1 small capsicum - thinly sliced 1 small carrot - julienne 250g mushroom - thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves - crushed 1 small brown onion - thinly sliced 2 tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Black bean sauce with garlic coriander to garnish Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat. Add half of the beef and stir fry the beef until browned. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the other half of beef. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the same wok over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until softens. Add carrots and capsicum. Stir fry for 2 minutes then add the black bean sauce. Toss in mushroom with 2 tablespoon of water. Add beef and noodle. Stir fry until the noodle is cooked and not mushy. Season with freshly ground black pepper and garnish with fresh coriander. sfi


Selamat Hari Raya

September 20, 2009
Wishing Everyone.... Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri... & Maaf Zahir Batin showing off my lavender .... blooming in my garden.... photo... courtesy from google image oooohhhh.... I miss ketupat daun palas ......


Kuih Makmur or Ghee Cookies with Peanut Filling

September 18, 2009
In Malaysia, where almost everything is just an 'order' away... I'd have no initiative to find out how to cook or bake anything....especially for Raya. My sister, Kak La, she's brilliant in making scrumptious Raya cookies, so why bother.... she'd make extra for me to take home... thank GOD for my wonderful sister.... Kuih Makmur is one of my favourite Raya cookies... every Raya, I'd order at least 800 pieces...of course, not all were consumed by me! I'd have problems if I did....they'll ended up in my 'tooshie and thigh'.... Now that the luxury of 'ordering' cookies is history.. I learned to make my own... kuih makmur . Found some recipes through the internet, my first attempt of kuih makmur was a disaster...the mixture - as a Malay would say ~ 'tak boleh pakai' .... crap (oops pardon!!)... So this is my version of Kuih Makmur ... it has the same texture, that soft..crumbly dough that melt in the mouth... Photo by Miss


Homemade Pineapple Jam

September 17, 2009
Super simple homemade pineapple jam recipe, without pectin.  


DoDol

September 16, 2009
We were looking through some holiday photos ...and chanced upon a photo of Pekan Rabu in Alor Setar. We were drooling over the kuihs and other goodies on display ... Mr H was saying that the only thing he missed ... would be savouring the dodol on Hari Raya! So we started to 'Google' for the recipe... and voila!! we found one and we 'modify' the ingredients and the measurement slightly... Verdict: Not too bad for a beginner... eventhough it took 2 hours to cook, but cooking in a non-stick pan helps heaps..otherwise somebody will wake up with a very sore arms!! And that person will not be moi !! the big brown..gooey... blop known as Dodol For syrup - 500g dark brown sugar 2 screwpine leaves 125ml water mix and boil on slow heat until slightly thickened. Leave it to cool. The Flour mix... 1 cup glutinous flour 1 tablespoon rice flour 400 ml coconut cream 100 ml water Mix the flour with water and coconut cream. Sieve mixture onto a non


Syrup

September 14, 2009
This is a special treat for Mr H Jr ... he's only allowed to have this beverage once a year, during puasa month, he loves his syrup bandung... White sugar (I used raw sugar)~ about 500g cinnamon sticks fennel red colouring 2 pandan leaves or screwpine leaves - knotted water - just enough to melt the sugar ... fill up the same level of the sugar. optional - may add some rose water if you wish... Mix the above and bring to boil for 5 minutes or until the flavour of the spices and pandan leaves infuse with the sugar. Voila ... you have syrup... and for Syrup Bandung ...just add milk. Sorry ... I was outvoted to put the photo my syrup bandung ...


Buah Melaka or Onde-Onde

September 12, 2009
Nice Malay delicacy.... Mr H Jr and Miss E requested for this kuih ... a nice chewy texture with sweet palm sugar that 'burst' in your mouth.... but you may be the unlucky one.... and happened to pick up my 'no palm sugar filling' aka my BOMB ... I usually throw in 1 or 2 without the palm sugar... and see who was unlucky that day!! 250g of glutinous flour 1 cup of water 8 pieces daun pandan or screwpine leaves dessicated coconut mix with a pinch of salt palm sugar - cut into small cubes In a blender, blend the daun pandan with water.... squeeze the pandan juice. Pour the juice into a mixing bowl of glutinous flour. Mix well... may have to add water so that the dough is pliable and not to dry. If the dough is a bit dry, the buah melaka will turn out hard... and if too soft, it may not hold the sugar inside....tricky...but you'll get there by the first few try.... Fill up the saucepan with water half full... Bring to boil.... Roll the


one pot beef briyani

September 11, 2009
If you ever visited Alor Setar... you must try this Nasi Mamak ... the shop is located opposite the old market, near Kilang Ais... behind our ex-PM's childhood house...not the first shop near the traffic light junction!... Whenever we were in Alor Setar, we would request this nasi mamak for breakfast ... especially Mr H and Mr H Jr! Both father and son can have this nasi mamak everyday!! Unbelievable... This one pot beef briyani is not nearly as good.. but then beggars can't be choosers !! 500g beef - cut into thin strips 2 tablespoon coriander seeds - grounded 1 tablespoon of cumin seed - grounded 1 brown onion - thinly sliced 2 garlic and 1 inch ginger - pounded 1 carrots - diced 2 cups of basmati rice 2 1/2 cup water or chicken stock. salt Fresh coriander for garnishing Saute the onion until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and the grounded spice and stir until fragrant. Add in the beef strips. Stir for a while to seal the juice. Then add in the basma


Sweet Chilli Salmon

September 09, 2009
This is a lovely dish.... simple but yummy... and easy to cook.... 4 salmon cutlets 1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce 2 tablspoon fish sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil spring onion and coriander to garnish Mix the sweet chilli, fish sauce and sesame oil in a bowl. Place the salmon in a heatproof plate. Pour the sweet chilli mix over and steam for 8-10 minutes. Garnish with spring onions and coriander. Serve with steamed rice. ~sfi


Cheat ...Mee Mamak

September 07, 2009
This is one of our favourites... Miss E once commented that my mee mamak is not as good as her father's mee mamak....so should we still call this mee mamak??? The title of the blog would do ~ Cheat Mee Mamak! Taste like Mee Mamak but not cooked by a mamak... (by an Apek !!)... Yellow noodles 2 chopped garlic 2 potatoes - cube and microwave fish cakes - thinly sliced 2 beancurd - deep fried and sliced eggs - omellette and thinly sliced chicken breast - cut into 2cm (optional) 300g fresh prawns - shelled and deveined but leave the tail on sauces - agak2.... 1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce, 1/6 cup tomato sauce, 2 tablespoon oyster sauce, thick dark soya sauce, light soya sauce 1 tablespoon of Maggi belacan granules vegetables : 2 tomatoes - cubes, 200g beansprouts and choy sum (optional) Garnishing: spring onion, sliced chilli and golden fried shallots, lime and sprigs of fresh coriander Heat up 4 tablespoon of oil in wok, saute the garlic till fragrant. Add in the chick


Kari Kai... or Chicken Curry

September 04, 2009
This is a beautiful chicken curry... the flavour... the taste... the aroma... is just so heavenly... Not like the ready made curry powder that we buy off the grocer shelf... The taste of this Kari Kai is very different... you just have to try it.... you'll want more with every bite.... Its good to go with Nasi Kunyit too.... 1 whole chicken 300g potatoes cut into wedges 400ml thin coconut milk 100ml thick coconut milk 1 star anise 2 cloves 1 cinnamon stick Spice paste - blend all ... 15 dried chillies - soaked 1 brown onion 3 garlics 20g belacan 2cm tumeric 3 tablespoon coriander seeds 1 tsp cumin 1tsp fennel Heat oil over meduim heat and saute star anise and cinnamon stick. Add spice paste and stir well. Add 2 tablespoon thick coconut milk and fry over low heat until oil separates. Add chicken and potatoes....pour thin milk. Simmer until chicken is tender and potatoes are cooked. Lastly add thick coconut milk and season to taste. ~nonya cookbook


Asam Pedas Utara

September 02, 2009
Malaysian sour and spicy fish soup known as Asam pedas rebus