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Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sambal Belacan Bertomato

Another version of Sambal Belacan herewith, which is suitable as dipping sauce with fried brinjals and boiled spinach.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Tomato
3 Red Chillies
Few Chilli Padi - adjust to your taste for mild to hot
1 tbsp Belachan - grilled
2-3 Kasturi Lime
Salt & Sugar

METHOD:
1. Prick tomato & place in a covered container & micowave High for 1 minute.
Alternatively, without pricking, dip in hot water until soften.
Peel off the skin.

2. Pound all the ingredients.
Ready!

Fish Curry with Lady Fingers

This is Sardine fish curry with lady fingers and tomatoes. The secret of tasty fish curry is to ensure only fresh fish are used.

For recipe, refer to my earlier post here.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Ramadhan Al-Mubarak


Steamed Butter Cake

Another recipe from the book by Zubaidah Chepa. A simple plain cake which can be prepared in short time. Use quality pure butter and never substitute with margarine as butter has nice aroma and produce tastier cake.

INGREDIENTS:
4 Eggs
125g Castor Sugar
½ tbsp Ovelatte
190g Superfine Flour
220g Butter
2 tbsp Condensed Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

METHOD:
1. Beat egg, sugar & ovalet until fluffy & thick.
Add in sifted flour & mix well.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter & condensed milk until fluffy.
Add in vanilla essence.

3. Add in butter mixture into the egg mixture portion by portion until well mixed.

4. Grease & line cake tin 8 inch square or round.
Steam on a rapid boiling water for 1 hour.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Urap

I made this with whatever herbs I can collect around the house. See the pictures of the herbs from my garden that I used:





INGREDIENTS:
Assorted Herbs & Vegetables - sliced thinly
Bird-Eye Chillies*
1 Lemongrass*
1 inch Ginger*
2 Shallots* (* sliced/pounded)
Dried Shrimps or grilled fish flesh - pounded
Coconut
Belacan
Ginger Flower (Bunga Kantan) - sliced
Salt

METHOD:

1. Mix all ingredients except Ulam/vegetables and stir fry without oil until fragrant.
Lastly add in sliced Ulam & vegetables.
Stir for a while just to blend well.
Dish up.

Fried Terubuk ( Longtail Shad)

I found the fresh Terubuk (Longtail Shad) in the market with egg inside. It is not easy to get the ones with egg as mostly will be monopolised by those who sell salted Terubuk Egg, a famous local product in Sarawak.

I like to shallow fry the Terubuk which is rubbed with little salt. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce like Air Assam or Sos Kicap as shown above.

Chicken Curry

I cooked simple curry today which recipe does not require pounding or blending any ingredients. I purposely made it thin to reduce cholesterol from coconut milk. The children loves flooding their rice with the thin gravy as it was less spicy.

INGREDIENTS:
6-8 pieces Chicken parts
2 Potato - cut to smaller size
4 Shallots*
2 cloves Garlic*
2 inches Ginger* (*sliced)
4 tbsp Curry powder - mix with water to form paste
1 Cinnamon Stick**
1 Star Anise**
3 Cardamon**
5 Cloves**
5 tbsp Oil

1 liter Coconut Milk
1 tsp Tamarind paste - add with water to produce juice
Salt & MSG (optional)

METHOD:
1. Heat up oil in a pot & fry sliced ingredients & those marked** until shallots are brown.
Add in curry paste & stir until oil emerged (add water if it sticks to pot).
Add in coconut milk and stir until boiled.
Add in chicken, potato, salt & MSG.
Cook until chicken and potato are tender.

2. Serve with rice.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cik Ja's Carrot Cake

This lovely Carrot Cake was made by my colleague Cik Ja, which she brought to my house during Women Gathering recently. Thank-you Ja for kindly sharing the recipe which she said was given by a friend when she was in Oman but she modified it a bit.

For Carrot Cake lover, here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
4 eggs - separate whites and yolks
1 ¼ cup Corn/Vegetable Oil
150g Castor Sugar
150g Brown Sugar
1½ cup carrot - shredded
250g Flour*
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder*
1½ tsp Baking Soda*
1 tsp Salt* (* sifted)
100 g walnut - chopped

METHOD:
1. Beat egg yolks.
Add in oil, castor sugar, brown sugar and shredded carrots and mix well.
Add in walnuts & the sifted ingredients and mix well.

2. Beat egg whites till stiff.
Fold in the egg whites into the other mixture.

3. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175 celcius for 40 minutes.
(Note: cake cooks quickly, check after half hour)

FROSTING:
1 packet cream cheese
Icing sugar
Lemon Juice
- Beat cream cheese and add in sugar & lemon to taste.

Brinjal Pachrey ( Pajeri Terung )

Brinjal Pachrey is a common Malay dish in the Peninsular. Thus far have not found it in Sarawak either in the restaurants or local friends.

It is curry based but thick and sweet with Kerisik as authentic flavour.

INGREDIENTS:
4 Long/Round Brinjals - cut to smaller size
2 tbsp Beef Curry Powder
2 tbsp Fish Curry Powder
4 Shallots*
2 cloves Garlic*
2 inch Ginger* (* sliced thinly)
1 Star Anise**
1 Cardamon**
4 Cloves**
1 piece Cinnamon Stick**
2 sprigs Curry Leaves**
1 handful Dry Shrimps
1 cup thick Coconut Milk
2 tbsp Roasted Coconut paste (Kerisik)
1tbsp Sugar
Salt

METHOD:
1. Heat up 5 tbsp oil & fry sliced ingredients* & those marked** until frgrant.
Add in dry shrimps and fry until shallots are brown.
Mix curry powder with enough water to form paste and add into the pot.
Stir fry until oil emerged out of the curry paste.
Add in coconut milk, Kerisik, salt & sugar; stir until boiled.
Add in brinjal.
Dish up when brinjals have softened.

2. Serve with white rice.

Turmeric Chicken

Simple dish but nice.
INGREDIENTS:
8-10 pieces Chicken
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt
3-5 Green Chillies - sliced
1 Big Onion - sliced into thick rings
2 cloves Garlic - sliced
3 inch Ginger - sliced into matchstick shapes

METHOD:
1. Rub chicken with turmeric powder & salt.
Deep fry until almost cooked.
Remove oil and leave about 2-3 tbsp.
Add in the rest of ingredients.
Stir fry until fragrant and chicken parts are fully cooked.

2. Dish up and serve with white rice.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tweety Hugs from Siti Khuzaimah

Today I received another gift and this time it is a lovely cute tweety from Siti Khuzaimah. MMMMUUUUUAAAHHH! Thanks, love, kiss and hugs for you Siti.....! Most appreciated for the friendship and support for each other..... Semoga persahabatan kita di alam maya ni berpanjangan dan membawa berkat....

I would like to pass this Tweety Hugs to all visitors and friend who drop by at my humble blog. Pada semua kekawan yang singgah kat sini, jangan lupa bawa balik hadiah ni sebagai buah tangan, k.

Homework from Amy/Che'iza: SQUEEZE THE TOOTHPASTE

SQUEEZE THE TOOTHPASTE

Simply, It's about where you squeeze the toothpaste.
Rules - Just answer the questions below and post in on your blogs.
And of course, you have to tag at least one person, the more the merrier..

Question 1: Which Squeezer are you? Please select one of the following and let's see how the statistic is :-
A - Top-squeezer (squeeze from the top part)
B - Middle squeezer (squeeze from the middle)
C - Bottom-Squeezer (squeeze from the bottom)
D - Random squeezer (squeeze anywhere you can get your fingers on)
>>>> My answer is C.

Question 2: Explain your answer in Question 1 or whatever you want to say about it...
>>>> So that it is neat and I can roll the bottom part as it is consumed..

Question 3: who you want to tag this person:
>>>> Katak Ayu

Monday, August 25, 2008

Healthy Date Slices

Above is a top view and the bottom is sliced and turned up side down. This is very easy to make and healthy too but a bit too sweet for me which I will half the sugar next time. Anyway, my hubby likes it very much.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Egg Whites
½ cup Sugar
¼ tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ cup Coarse Cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped Dates
½ cup chopped Walnuts
½ tsp Vanilla Essence

METHOD:
1. Beat egg white until foamy.
Add in sugar a tbsp at a time while beating, until stiff peaks formed.
Fold in the rest of ingredients.

2. Pour into a greased 8 inch pie tin.
Bake at 170C for 30 minutes.
Cool and slice.

Butter Squids

This is always kids' favourite. Since I am allergic to prawn, Butter Squids is a good alternative to Butter Prawns.

FRIED SQUIDS:
750g medium/large Squids* - sliced into rings
A dash of Sesame oil*
Salt, sugar*
2 tbsp Cornflour*
2 tbsp Rice flour*
1 tsp Curry powder* (*add together)

CRISPY CRUMBS:
1 Egg
1 tbsp Marie biscuit crumbs
1 tbsp Cornflour
Salt & Pepper
Water

SEASONING:
2 tbsp Butter
3 cloves Garlic - chopped
2 sprigs Curry Leaves
5 Chilli Padi / Bird-Eye Chilli
1 tbsp Oyster sauce

METHOD:
1. Deep fry squids and make sure not too long to prevent it becoming hard.
Lift into a plate & put aside.

2. Mix all the ingredients to make crispy crumbs and enough water to make thin batter.
Sprinkle into hot oil and fry until crispy.
Lift into a plate & put aside.

3. Heat up butter & fry curry leaves, garlic & chilli until fragrant.
Add in oyster sauce & fry for a while.
Add in fried squids and stir fry until well mixed.
Add in crispy batter, stir quickly and dish up.
Serve immediately with white rice.

Chicken Masak Lemak Berlada

This dish is my mum's speciality and now inherited in my kitchen too....

INGREDIENTS:
8-10 pieces Chicken parts
2 potatoes - peeled & cut into wedges
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Fennel seeds*
1 tsp Black Pepper*
3 Shallots*
1 clove Garlic*
2 inches Ginger* (*pounded)
3 tbsp Oil
3 Green Chillies - sliced into two
1 big bowl Coconut Milk

METHOD:
1. Rub chicken parts with ½ tsp turmeric powder & salt.
Deep fried until cooked. Put aside.
Deep fry potato wedges until cooked and put aside.

2. Heat up oil & fry pounded ingredients and green chillies until fragrant.
Add in coconut milk, ½ tsp turmeric powder & boil.
Add in fried chicken pieces and potato wedges.
Stir and cook for a while.
Dish up.

3. Serve with white rice.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Brilliant Weblog from Amy

Got this from Amy. Thanks Amy mmmmuuuahhhhh! But I don't think my four-month-old blog is so smart or blilliant.... still crawling slowly..... thanks for the motivation anyway....!

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere. Here are the rules to follow:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

So, here is my nomination:
che'iza
masz73 (nak bagi tapi tengok, dia dah ada le...)
hazila (pun dah ada...)
hana (dah ada jugak....)
Siti Khuzaimah (laaa dah ada jugak....)
Laaa... semua dah ada, tatau nak kasi sapa lah......

Fried Sandwich


I was running out of idea for breakfast today. When checked in the kitchen, I had a loaf of bread and then I remembered some leftover breadcrumbs. Ting! Idea came.....

INGREDIENTS:
A loaf of sliced bread
A can of Tuna
1 Big Onion
1 Red Chilli
1 tbsp Chilli paste
1 Kasturi Lime
Salt & Pepper
4 Eggs
4 tbsp Flour
Fresh Milk & Water
Breadcrumbs
Mini Sausages

METHOD:
1. Heat up few tbsp of oil & fry chopped onion and sliced chilli.
Add in chilli paste and fry for a while.
Add in tuna chunks, salt & pepper.
Off fire & squeeze lime juice. Dish up.

2. Mix beaten egg with flour, milk, water, salt & pepper to make thin batter for dipping.

3. Flatten bread slices with a roller & cut into two parts.
Fill up with tuna filling and fold.
Dip into egg batter and coat with breadcrumbs.
Deep fry in a flat frying pan until golden on both sides.

4. You can also roll mini sausages and sliced cheese.
Dip into egg batter and coat with breadcrumbs & fry.

5. Serve with chilli sauce and mayonaise.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake



Recently I bought a recipe book by Zubaidah Chepa and today I tried her recipe above. I must say that this is the best Moist Chocolate Cake that I have made so far and I give her 5 star rating for the recipe. Not only it is moist but also rich and tasty with right balance of sweet, chocolatie and not oily at all.

For ganache on the top I used the recipe by hana6877 from MR and the side Chocolate Butter Cream by Yochana. By the way this is my very first time decorating cake with icing...hahaha! (LOL)... indeed you can laugh at me....I know it is not perfect at all.....

(Makes 8½ inch diameter)
INGREDIENTS :
100g Cocoa Powder*
250g Castor Sugar*
1 tin Evaporated Milk*
200g Cooking Oil*
250g Condensed Milk*
4 Eggs (grade B)
150g Plain Flour**
1 tsp Bicarbonate Soda**
1 tsp Baking Powder** (** combined)

METHOD:
1. Combine ingredients marked * & stir over heat for a while until smooth (no need to boil).
2. Beat eggs in another bowl until frothy & mix into chocolate mixture.
Add in sifted flour mixture and mix with beater at low speed until well mixed.
3. Pour into lined & greased tin.
Steam with medium fire for 1 hour or until cooked.
(Make sure water has been rapidly boiled before steaming the cake).
Cool before decorating.

TOP GANACHE:
3 tbsp Condensed Milk
¼ cup Cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Fresh Milk
- Double boil all ingredients and pour right away onto cake.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM:
125g Butter
125g Margarine
80g Icing Sugar
100g Chocolate - melted
- Beat all ingredients except chocolate. Mix in melted chocolate & ready to use.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Chicken Masala

Chicken Masala is a speciality of my beloved sister-in-law, Kak Ngah Asiah. She used to cook this every Hari Raya and on our other special occassions. Being away from my homestate, I miss her cooking very much...

This is what I learned from her:

INGREDIENTS:
½ Chicken - cut big sizes
½ kg Shallots*
6 cloves Garlic*
3 inches Ginger*
5 Lemongrass* (* blended)
½ bowl Chilli Paste
2-3 Screwpine Leaves - cut to 2 inch length
Salt & Sugar
2 Big Onions - sliced thinly

METHOD:
1. Mix all ingredients & marinate chicken for at least an hour.

2. Heat up a bowl of cooking oil (enough to deepfry the chicken but not too much).
Fry the whole chicken pieces together with its marinated ingredients under slow fire.
Add in sliced big onions half way of cooking to ensure it get golden eventually.
Stir occassionally until chicken parts are cooked and marinated ingredients + sliced big onions are crispy.
Dish up the chicken & the crispy ingredients and toss the excess oil.
Tips: Use non-stick wok to avoid ingredients sticking to the bottom of the wok before chicken parts are cooked.

3. Chicken Masala is suitable to serve with plain rice, Nasi Minyak, Nasi Briyani or Nasi Lemak.

Bario Nasi Lemak / Bario Rice

The photo above is Nasi Lemak using Bario Rice and served with Chicken Masala. HomeKreation Nasi Lemak recipe was posted earlier on here. Masala Chicken recipe is in the next posting.
Bario Rice is special rice planted only in Bario valley, which is located in the centre of the Kelabit Highlands of central Borneo. It is regarded as the finest and best rice grains from highlands of Sarawak. It is famous for its soft texture, fine and elongated grains with mild aromas and splendid taste. It is organically grown without any usage of of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It has all the attributes of organic rice with an added flavour and unique taste as a result of the cool, pristine and unpolluted environments where it is grown. It is perfect for health conscious consumers. Ones must buy this when visiting Miri (I am not sure whether you can get from other towns in Sarawak other than Miri and of course Bario valley itself).

My colleague, Pat came from Bario and she gave me a big bag of Bario rice above as gift. It is freshly harvested and more specially because it is purely unmixed with any other kind of rice. Cooking it plain is good enough but I also love to make Nasi Lemak with it as it gives real special taste. To cook Bario rice use equal ratio of water and rice.

So next time you come to Sarawak, look out for Bario Rice!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mexican Hat ( Kuih Penyaram )


Mexican Hat, or called locally in Sarawak as Kuih Penyaram, was demonstrated by Cik Mala at my house during Women Gathering last Friday. It has dome shape in the middle with spongy texture and crispy curls around it which describes how it gets the name.

Here is the recipe contributed by Cik Mala, thank-you so much for sharing:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups Rice Flour
1 cup Plain Flour
2 tbsp Coconut Cream Powder (optional)
SYRUP:
1½ cups Hot Water
½ packet Gula Apong (Palm Sugar)
3-5 tbsp Sugar (adjust to your taste)

METHOD:
1. Pour hot syrup into flour mixture and mix well until smooth.
Cover and stand for at least 2 hours.
For a more spongy result, keep overnight in a fridge.

2. Heat up about 1-2 cups of oil in a smal 8 inch diameter wok which has a deep dome shape in the middle. This will shape the kuih accordingly.
Pour 1 scoop of batter in the middle at one spot.
The kuih will spread by itself & float.
Let the edge expand fully before flipping.
Flip and prick the centre of the kuih to release some air & prevent it from exploding.
Fry until golden.

Makan-Makan at Miri Beach

This week is a school holiday and my three boys have been staying home by themselves. My husband just came back from outstation and our work schedule this week will not allow us to take leave to spend time with them. Apart from my youngest boy, the other two are not complaining because they are busy studying preparing for their PMR & SPM. We promised to drop them in the city in the afternoon to watch movie but unfortunately it was heavily rained with thunder, so we did not manage to be home in time during lunch break. We then decided to go out for dinner with my sister-in-law and her children. We ordered almost everything in the menu : calamari, crab, fish, chicken wings, prawn, satay (didn't turn up), cockles and two vegetables.

I didn't bring my camera and used my hubby's handphone, so photos are not of good quality and some photos did not turn out at all:










Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Mee Hong Kong

My hubby is working outstation today, I just had badminton game and kids cried for something different than the usual rice and dishes type of dinner. When asked to vote for noodles, all the three kids gave hands up. As usual, I just cooked what I felt like cooking and why not try something different tonite. Not disappointing, all enjoyed them very much.

My Mee Hong Kong version is mainly tomato and chilli based sauce :

INGREDIENTS:
3 cloves Garlic
1 inch Ginger
2 tbsp Chilli paste
1 Tomato - chopped
Tomato sauce
Chilli sauce
2 liter Water
Chicken Meat, Shrimps, Sausages
1 tbsp Cornflour - add with water to form paste
Salt, Sugar, Pepper
Vegetables

METHOD:
1. Heat up 2 tbsp oil & fry chopped garlic, sliced ginger until fragrant.
Add in chilli paste & continue frying for few minutes.
Add in chopped chicken meat, shrimps and sliced sausages. Stir few minutes.
Add in chopped Tomato, sauces and water sufficiently and it should be thick.
Add in cornflour paste & season.
Add in vegetables and dish up.

2. Blanched yellow noodles (mee) and pour gravy onto it and served right away.
Garnish with fried onions.

Sambal Belacan Ikan Bilis

My mum makes her Sambal Belacan without Ikan Bilis but the one with Ikan Bilis is a famous version in Sarawak that I adopted from my in laws. Serve this with your favourite Ulam but in the above picture I had it with young mango and boiled Jering. Emmmmmh.... real good appetiser.

Do you know that Jering (Jiringa in English) can prevent diabetes and also good for heart. However, it is advisable to consume in moderate amount due to unpleasant smell and excessive consumption may cause formation of crystal in urination system due to indigestion.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Red Chillies
4-5 Chilli Padi / Bird-Eye Chilli
1 tbsp Belacan (Shrimp paste)
Generous amount of Ikan Bilis (anchovies)
1 tsp Sugar
Salt (optional, Belacan is salty)
Lime juice (optional)

METHOD:
1. Pound all ingredients to mix.
Seasoned to taste.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Custard Apple Pie


Another recipe that was served in the recent Women Gathering at my house, specially for Aline who made the request. This recipe is worth keeping which I modified & developed many years ago, and eversince been sharing with many friends. The Apple Pie was a hit everytime when I served at office or home party.

Hope others will find this recipe worth trying. Don't forget to leave your comment here if you happen to try it.

BASE PASTRY:
250g Flour
125g cold Butter
3 tbsp Castor Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
1-3 tbsp Water

1. Mix the first three ingredients using cut & mix method to produce breadcrumbs like.
You can use food processor or do it manually using blunt dinner knife to do so.
Make sure you do this quickly before butter is melt to ensure crispy pastry.
Don't worry if there are butter bits, you must not knead before adding egg & water.

2. Add in egg yolk & mix with finger and if a dough is not formed, add water a tbsp at a time until a ball of dough is formed.

3. Chill it for 20 minutes and then line the pie tin.

FILLING:
6-8 Red Apples (depending on the size of the apples & size of your tin)
1-2 tbsp Sugar for sprinkling
2 Eggs
½ cup Caster Sugar
1 tin (170ml) Nestle Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

METHOD:
1. Peel, halved, cored and sliced apples 3/4 through - see the picture above.
Arrange apples onto the prepared pastry base.
Sprinkle sugar & bake 200C for 20 minutes.

2. Beat eggs and sugar until well mixed.
Add in cream and beat to just mix.
Add in vanilla essence.
Pour onto baked apples.
Bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until custard is set.
Cool & chill.

3. Produce one 10-11 inch diameter pie.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Baked Blueberry Cheesecake

This was also served in the Women Gathering yesterday. Blueberry Cheesecake is Rusydi's favourite, my second son. He has tried making this himself and was successful. The following photo is the one made by him early this year, which I have shared in MR before this.

Here is the recipe....

BASE:
110g Butter
- melted
200g Digestive biscuits - crushed
50g Almond flakes - toast

FILLING:
500g Cream cheese
30g Butter
120g Castor Sugar
1 lemon - grate & juice(optional, I did not)
30g Cornflour
200-300ml Whipping Cream
4 Eggs - lightly beaten
150g Blueberry pie filling

TOPPING:
1 tsp Gelatin / Jelly powder
30ml Hot Water
150g Blueberry pie filling

METHOD:
1. Mix all the base ingredients and press into a springform tin. Chill.
2. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Add sugar, lemon zest & juice & cornflour.
Add in cream and blend well.
Slowly adding beaten egg and mix until just combined.

3. Pour half of mixture into the prepared base.
Spread blueberry pie filling and then pour the remaining mixture.

4. Bake in water bath at 150C for 1 hour (I am too lazy to use water bath and it is ok). Let cake cool in the oven & chill overnight or at least 6 hours.

5. Mix all the topping ingredients and spread onto cheesecake.
Chill until it is set.