It's All About Experiments in The Kitchen and All The Fun Involved

Archive for May, 2011

Tiger Turned Rabbit

Despite being a blue-blooded meat fanatic, Mr KHz still does take certain types of vegetables. However, his definition of vegetables is classified as green and leafy. Vegetables to him include green mustard leaves (sawi), water convulvulous (kangkung) and spinach. Other types of vegetables belong to the rabbits.

You can much away all your ulam with sambal belacan and he just couldn’t be bothered. You can go on and on about the marvellous taste of nasi kerabu with all types of vegetables mixed together but he just wouldn’t budge. However, after a couple of visits to Bumbu Desa, he has developed a liking for tapioca shoots. Although the dish appear very common to me (for I’m part rabbit , part old aunt), he found the shoots rather appetizing.

After three consecutive days of consuming chicken and seafood dishes, I decided to give this dish a try. Since I managed to get hold of two nice bunches of tapioca shoots from the wet market in Section 14, I finally got to see Mr KHz eating a new type of vegetable other than his usual three.

‘PUCUK UBI MASAK LEMAK KUNING‘

Ingredients :

  • 2 bunches of tapioca shoots (separated from the fibrous stalks, cleaned, boiled till tender and squeeze out the juice)
  • 400ml thick coconut milk (I used a packet of Ayam Brand coconut milk and add 250ml of water)
  • 5 dries chillies (seeded, soaked in hot water, drained and finely ground)
  • 5 bird’s eyes chillies (pounded coarsely)
  • 1 cm piece of turmeric root
  • 4 shallots
  • 1/4 cup of dried anchovies (pounded coarsely)
  • 1 cm piece of shrimp paste
  • salt and sugar to taste

Method :

  1. Pound bird’s eyes chillies, turmeric root and shallots till fine and put into a cooking pot.
  2. Put in the tapioca shoots and other ingredients and mix well.
  3. Continue stirring and let to boil over medium heat.
  4. Add salt and sugar to taste.
  5. Serve with fried salted fish and sambal belacan.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

Mission Impossible!

My idea of comfort food does not necessarily involve tonnes and tonnes of  sugar, fat and sky rocketting amount of calories. As far as I’m concerned, Mak’s asam pedas has never failed to do its ‘comforting’ job but fruits would carry out the similar task well enough. Talking about fruits, sometimes I go for the crunchy ones but with the current weather, anything juicy is the best option.

I have always liked to use fruits whenever I’m baking. However, my kids are the opposites. They are Mr KHz’s carbon copies. They only eat chocolate chip muffins. Fruits are meant to be taken as they are. Cooking with fruits should never take place. However, I decided to prepare my banana chocolate chip muffins last Saturday just to find out  if this combination would work on them. Well, they love chocolate and surprisingly adore jemput-jemput pisang. Besides, there was school on last Saturday and don’t you agree that it was the perfect time for some comfort food? As a spirit booster I went and prepared my muffins. Brought some for my sister and she ended up making three batches of the same muffins!  Oh yes, just to let you know that my mission failed miserably. The muffins turned out soft and moist, with the right amount of sweetness but the kids (as well as their father) remain loyal to their jemput-jemput pisang. Anyway, here’s the recipe which might help to cheer you up in case you’re feeling under the weather.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

Ingredients :

  • 3 ripe bananas (mashed) (I used Pisang Montel but using 5-6 pisang emas would produce better muffins)
  •  1 and 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar (press the sugar tightly into the cup)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup of corn oil
  • 1/4 cup of yoghurt
  • 1/4 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Method :

  1. Preheat oven at 170C.
  2. Put the flour into a big bowl.
  3. Mix brown sugar, corn oil, yoghurt, mashed bananas and bicarbonate of soda till well-mixed.
  4. Then, pour this mixture into the flour and fold using a fork. Your mixture should be lumpy.
  5. Spoon into muffin tin lined with paper casings.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Note : I managed to get a dozen of large muffins from this recipe.

Category:

Kitchen Stories, Muffins

Mom’s Is Always The Best!

I have often stressed that mothers should cook for their kids so, when they grow up, they (just like yours truly) would have fond memories of their mothers. Besides, showing love through food is the easiest way to melt a person’s heart. As mothers are always full of love and care, anything prepared by our moms would be excitingly enjoyed and forever cherished.

I decided to prepare the dish in the photo below for several reasons. The first reason is of course, trying a new recipe. The second one is to show appreciation to those trainees who have given me the the recipe book which the recipe is taken from. The third reason is, last but not least, it’s Chef Wan’s and this recipe is a valid evidence to support my say on why mothers should cook. If a great chef like Chef Wan has decided to feature his mom’s simple chicken recipe, don’t you think that it’s about time to venture into the kitchen and start pampering your loved ones with your prepared-with-love creations?

Anyway, on a different note, Ayie, and Tria, in case you come across this entry, it’s dedicated to both of  you, my dearies.

‘MUM’S CHICKEN SAMBAL‘

Ingredients :

(A)

  • 12 chicken pieces ( I used half of a medium size chicken)
  • 1 tablespoonful of ground turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • cooking oil for deep- frying
  • 3 sprigs of curry leaves
  • 4 tablespoonfuls of tamarind juice (extracted from 1 tablespoonful of tamarind pulp and 4 tablespoonfuls of water)
  • 4 tablespoonfuls of water ( I added 1/2 cup of water because I prefer more gravy)
  • 3 potatoes (cut into wedges and deep fried ( I omitted)
  • 2 tomatoes (quartered)
  • salt and sugar to taste

(B) (spice paste)

  •  20 dried chillies (seeded and soaked in water and drained)
  • 1 and 1/2 tablespoonfuls of coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoonful of fennel seeds
  • 1 tablespoonful of cumin seeds
  • 1 cm knob of ginger
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 8 shallots

Method :

  1. Combine spice paste ingredients in a blender until smooth
  2. Rub chicken with turmeric and salt.
  3. Heat oil and deep-fry chicken just until cooked. Do not let it become crisp. Drain.
  4. Using the same wok, reserve 3 tablespoonfuls of oil used for frying the chicken. Saute spice paste together with curry leaves until fragrant.
  5. Add fried chicken, tamarind juice and water. Cook until gravy is thick.
  6. Add potatoes and tomatoes. Season with salt and sugar and stir for 3 minutes.
  7. Dish out and serve.

NOTE : I took two pieces of chicken while my daughter, Atush, had second helpings and to tell you the truth, she’s very picky. Mr KHz had at least 3 pieces of chicken. Pak Incik Besar finished up the remaining pieces and I was one happy cook!

Category:

Chicken Licken

Welcoming May

The saying ‘time flies’ is undeniably true for we are already in the month of May! I celebrated the new month’s arrival by preparing something that both Mr KHz and I enjoy- something with a lot of cockles. Hence, I want to share the result of my first attempt of cooking char kuey tow with cockles. This time, I decided to try cheiza@myresipi.com ‘s paste recipe and I was pleased with the outcome. Satisfyingly delicious!


CHAR KUEY TEOW KERANG

(FLAT RICE NOODLES WITH COCKLES)

Ingredients :

(A) For the paste :

  • 200g prawns ( I used prawn heads)
  • 250ml water
  • 4 pips of garlic (bashed)
  • 3 tablespoonfuls of sweet soy sauce
  • 3 teaspoonful of dark soy sauce
  • 6 tablespoonfuls of oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of  ikan bilis granules (I used 1 ikan bilis cube)
  • 1 teaspoonful of petis (I omitted because I don’t really like the smell)
  • 2 teaspoonfuls of salt
  • 1 teaspoonful of sugar

Method :

  1. Mix prawn heads and water and bring to a boil. Strain the prawn heads and keep the juice.
  2. Pour the juice into a pot  and mix with other ingredients. Bring to a boil.
  3. Lower down the heat to medium and simmer till mixture thickens.
  4. Let to cool and pour into an airtight container and keep in the fridge.

(B) For the noodles :

  • 300g of kuey teow / flat rice noodles
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of chiili paste
  • 4 tablespoonfuls of paste.
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 cup of  boiled cockles
  • a bunch of Chinese chives /daun kucai (cut into 1 inch strips)
  • cooking oil
  • sliced fresh and green chillies (I added these)

Method :

  1. In a wok, heat up cooking oil and stir fry ground chilli till the oil separates.
  2. Put in the paste, cockles and water and let to boil.
  3. Once boiled, increase the heat to high put in the noodles, Chinese chives and sliced red and green chillies. Mix well.
  4. Put the eggs and mix well.
  5. Serve hot.

Category:

Noodles and Such

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