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Archive for the ‘Vegetable Dishes’ Category

Oh Chilli, How I Love Thee

I have always enjoyed hot and spicy dish. As a result, I always make sure that I always have my chillies in the fridge. Thanks to the Almighty, Mr KHz is also a big fan of  this red, hot sensation. I’m also very glad that my girl, Atush also shares the same liking but my boy, Daus needs a wee bit more training. So, here’s another recipe using my cherished ingredient – the red, hot and spicy!

‘ TERUNG BERLADA ‘

Ingredients :

  • 3 medium-size brinjals/ eggplants/ aubergines
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of dried shrimps (soaked for 10 minutes and and drained)
  • 10 fresh red chillies
  • 5 bird’s eye chillies
  • 5 shallots
  • 2 pips of garlic
  • 1 piece of asam keping
  • 3 tablespoonfuls of cooking oil
  • salt and sugar to taste

Method :

  1. Cut the brinjals lengthwise and deep fried till golden brown.
  2. Drain and arrange on a platter.
  3. Next, put all ingredients except the asam keping into a blender and pulse. The mixture should be coarse and not finely ground.
  4. Heat cooking oil in a pan and stir fry ground ingredients and theasam keping  till the oil separates from the gravy.
  5. Add salt and sugar to taste.
  6. Spoon onto the brinjal pieces.
  7. It’s time to fall in love once again.

Category:

Hot and Spicy, Vegetable Dishes

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

When I’m Feeling Blue, I Go Green!

The whole of last week had seen me suffering from bad cough, runny nose and recurring feverish feeling. It was indeed a very, very bad time for me but yes, I still went to school without fail. I had been omitting certain types of food which are labelled unsuitable to be taken in my condition with hopes for a speedy recovery but the illnesses just wouldn’t want to go away. I know it’s about time for an immediate action and you want to know what I did? Well, I started taking ice cream, ice-cold drinks and spicy food and hey presto! I did feel better. I guess, it takes different measures with different people and with me, it is always the weird way to the rescue!

On Sunday, I was in the mood of something soupy so I ‘d prepared a simple dish below. I’d paired my soup with blanched flat rice noodles and it turned out to be quite a satisfying meal for me. You may find this hardly a recipe but as I’ve said times and times, cooking is certainly a wonderful world of uncharted territories and unexpected outcomes. You would like the dish or decided that the first try would remain the first and the last. Anyway, happy experimenting folks!

CHICKEN BALL SOUP WITH VEGETABLES

Ingredients :

  • 3 shallots
  • 5 pips of garlic
  • 2 teaspoonfuls of white peppercorns
  • 10 chicken balls (halved)
  • 1 medium size carrots (julienned)
  • 1 medium size ripe tomato (cut into wedges)
  • 5-6 pieces of fresh button mushrooms (sliced)
  • 2 bunches of Chinese mustard leaves (choy sam) (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1 piece of chicken cube
  • 3 cups of water
  • some cooking oil
  • salt to taste

Method :

  1. In a pestle and mortar, pound shallots and garlic till fine.
  2. In a pot, heat cooking oil a stir fry pounded ingredients till fragrant and pour in water.
  3. Let to boil and put in chicken cube and stir till dissolve.
  4. Put in your carrot and let to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Next, put in choy sum and chicken balls and let to simmer for another 2 minutes.
  5. Season with salt and put in mushrooms and tomato wedges. Stir and turn off the heat.
  6. Spoon over your noodles.
  7. Serve hot.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

Of Salted Fish and ‘Sambal Belacan’

Do you know what these are? Yes, the ever glorious sambal belacan and salted fish!

I admit that I do not represent the whole Malay population in this country but I am sure that many Malays are very fond of their ‘sambal belacan’. It is actually an accompaniment made up of pounded red chillies, a shallot or two, toasted shrimp paste, salt and sugar. From this basic recipe, you can simply add raw mango or chopped, ripe tomatoes for a sourish taste or simply squeeze some lime juice to make it more appetizing. It is an unwritten rule that if you have already prepared your sambal belacan, you MUST have  fried salted fish to go along with it.

Talking about pairing, I begin to realize that whenever Mak prepares her Kobis or Labu Masak Lemak Putih (Cabbage or Pumpkin in White Coconut Gravy), she would also prepare her sambal belacan and salted fish. Only after these years have I finally understood how brilliant were the womenfolk of the yesteryears. In the kampung, dishes are prepared using sources around the household perimetre, where vegetable dishes are more common. When you have to cook for everyone (with various likings) in the house, you can’t afford but to be creative. In the case of Kobis or Labu Masak Lemak Putih, those who fancy spicy food, can simply add the sambal belacan into their meal for that extra zing. What an ingenious idea!

As for me, since I still have my sambal belacan and salted fish, I decided to prepare this dish, using another Chef Wan’s recipe.

‘LABU MASAK LEMAK PUTIH’

Ingredients :

  • 300g pumpkin (peeled and chopped into large chunks)
  • 200g of prawns (peeled)
  • 3 shallots
  • 2 pips of garlic
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of dried shrimps
  • 500ml of coconut milk (from 1 grated coconut)
  • 1 red chilli (deseeded and cut lengthwise)
  • salt and sugar to taste

Method :

  1. In a pot, put all ingredients except turmeric leaf , chilli and prawns and let to boil till the pumpkin chunks are soft. Stir continuously or your coconut milk will split.
  2. Next, put in the remaining ingredients and stir till the prawns are cooked.
  3. Add salt and sugar to taste.
  4. Serve hot with your sambal belacan and salted fish.

 

Category:

Kitchen Stories, Seafood, Vegetable Dishes

After All, I am a Rabbit!

Realising that school will resume on the next day, I ended my Sunday by preparing two vegetable dishes. Please don’t be alerted for I’m not on a diet but I was merely finishing up the stock. Knowing that they would end up in the dustbin if I let them rot in the fridge, I used up everything I had although I know I would be the only one having to finish everything. Hey, it’s Year of the Rabbit and I am a rabbit too! Here are the photos and one recipe if you feel like trying.

MIXED VEGETABLES WITH OYSTER SAUCE

 

‘BENDI BERLADA’

Ingredients :

  • 10 medium-size lady’s fingers
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of dried shrimps (soaked for 10 minutes and and drained)
  • 5 fresh red chillies
  • 3 bird’s eye chillies
  • 5 shallots
  • 2 pips of garlic
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of kaffir lime juice
  • 3 tablespoonfuls of cooking oil
  • salt and sugar to taste

Method :

  1. In a pot, bring water to a boil and blanch lady’s fingers till soft.
  2. Drain and arrange on a platter.
  3. Next, put all ingredients except kaffir lime juice into a blender and pulse. The mixture should be coarse and not finely ground.
  4. Heat cooking oil in a pan and stir fry ground ingredients till the oil separates from the gravy.
  5. Add salt and sugar to taste. I omitted both for my dried shrimps had served the purpose.
  6. Pour in the kaffir lime juice and stir well.
  7. Spoon onto the lady’s fingers.
  8. It’s time to be a rabbit!

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

It’s Vege Time Again! …… (and some seafood included)

Salam Maal Hijrah to all Muslim readers and Godwilling, everything will sail smoothly. Anyway, since this blog is about cooking and food, I am very glad to share another vegetable dish which I always prepare.  I’ve done an entry on the dish years ago  so this entry would be a rewrite, in terms of the photo of the dish and the ingredients used. If you like vegetables, this dish suits you well.

‘ PADPRIK MAKANAN LAUT ‘

Ingredients:

(A)

  • 6 medium size prawns, cleaned but leave the tails intact
  • 2 squids (cut into rings)
  • 5 shallots
  • 4 pips of garlic
  • 1 carrot (julienne)
  • a small head of broccoli (cut into florets)
  • a small head of cauliflower (cut into florets)
  • 5 long beans (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1 small yellow capsicum (cut into strips)
  • 2 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 lemongrass (bruised)
  • 6-7 bird’s eye chillies

(B)

  • 2 tablespoonfuls of sweet soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoonful of  oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoonful of fish sauce
  • 1/4 cup of water

(C)

  • juice from 5 kaffir limes

Method :

  1. Pound shallots, garlic and bird’s eye chillies coarsely and stir fry until fragrant.
  2. Put in the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and stir.
  3. Next, put in ingredients (B) and carrots and let to simmer. Then, put in the prawns and squid rings and mix well.
  4. After that, put in all the vegetables and stir.
  5. Once your vegetables are cook, turn off the heat.
  6. Pour kaffir lime juice over your padprik and mix well.
  7. Serve immediately.

Category:

Seafood, Vegetable Dishes

It’s Vege Time!

Good afternoon to all. How’s your Monday? It’s as usual for me but minus the rush. As I’ve mentioned in the previous entries, since I have had enough beef for the time being, I have moved to seafood and vegetable dishes. In this entry, I’m happy to share another Chef Wan’s vegetable dish which is very easy to prepare and only minimal ingredients are used. It is definitely my kind of food.

‘SAMBAL GORENG KACANG BOTOL’

Ingredients:

  • 400g ‘kacang botol’ (sliced diagonally)
  • 300g fresh prawns (peeled)
  • juice from 1 kaffir lime (optional)
  • 6 fresh red chillies (deseeded)
  • 5 shallots
  • 1 teaspoonful shrimp paste powder ( I used the ordinary ‘belacan’)
  • 2 tablespoonfuls of dried shrimps
  • 4 tablespoonfuls of cooking oil
  • salt and sugar to taste

Method :

  1. Grind red chillies, shallots, ‘belacan’, and dried shrimps finely.
  2. Heat oil in a wok and stir fry ground ingredients till fragrant.
  3. Put in the prawns and cook for 2 minutes and put in the ‘kacang botol’.
  4. Put salt and sugar to taste and the lime juice.
  5. Serve hot.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

Salam Ramadhan

Salam Ramadhan untuk semua. Alhamdulillah, dengan limpah rahmat dan keizinanNya, sekali lagi kita telah diberi peluang untuk bersama-sama mendapatkan keberkatan bulan yang indah ini. Semoga ibadah puasa tahun ini lebih bermutu dan diredhai.

Ramadhan memang sentiasa dikaitkan dengan rezeki yang melimpah-ruah sepanjang ianya berlangsung. Pelbagai makanan ada dijual di mana-mana. Ibu-ibu juga sedia memasak juadah berbuka pilihan ahli keluarga, yang selalunya menjadi cara menghargai dan memberi semangat dan dorongan buat anak-anak yang pertama kali berpuasa. Sekadar peringatan untuk pembaca dan juga diri saya sendiri, di bulan yang mulia ini, marilah kita bersama-sama mengelakkan pembaziran. Mungkin juga boleh dijadikan permulaan menanam sikap berjimat di kalangan ahli keluarga.

Memandangkan blog ini berkaitan masakan dan penyediaan makanan, sukalah saya berkongsi satu lagi resepi tukang masak tersohor, Puan Rubiah Suparman. Kepada yang memang menyukai masakan kampung, saya yakin resepi di bawah ini tidak akan mengecewakan.

‘Sambal Tempoyak Daun’

Bahan-bahan
1 ikat pucuk ubi ( saya gandakan kerana tiada pucuk labu dan daun kaduk)
1 ikat pucuk labu       }
10 helai daun kaduk  } (saya abaikan kerana tidak dapat dicari di pasar)
1 helai daun kunyit (saya gunakan 2 helai)
2 batang serai
10 biji cili api
1 labu bawang besar
1 ulas bawang putih
1 sudu kecil serbuk kunyit
2-3 cawan santan pekat (saya gunakan santan kotak Ayam Brand dan dicampur air mencukupkan 3 cawan)
1 papan petai (diambil bijinya) (saya hiris tipis)
3 sudu besar ikan bilis (saya tumbuk kasar-kasar)
3 sudu besar tempoyak
garam secukup rasa
1 sudu teh gula pasir (ini tiada dalam resepi asal)


Cara memasak:

  1. Hiris halus pucuk ubi, daun kunyit dan serai. Rendam dalam air garam.
  2. Sementara itu, cili api, bawang besar dan bawang putih dkisar halus. kemudian, toskan bahan-bahan yang telah direndam tadi dan keringkan airnya.
  3. Masukkan ke dalam periuk dan letakkan bahan-bahan kisar tadi bersama ikan bilis, petai santan dan tempoyak. Masak hingga mendidih dan pekat.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

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.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

Apa Tengok-tengok? Nak Gaduh Ke?

Ooooooppppp! Nanti! Nanti! Jangan gaduh-gaduh. Makan gado-gado tak apa. Resepi ni cikyah dapat dari KualiOnline. Bahan-bahannya dan resepi kuah kacangnya pun cikyah dah ubah sedikit. Berselera ke tengok gambar kat bawah ni? Apa? Nampak sedap? Cuba la……

GADO-GADO


Bahan-bahan:

  • 5 batang kacang panjang (dipotong-potong sepanjang 2 inci dan dicelur sebentar)
  • 1 batang timun ( buang empulurnya dan dipotong-potong sepanjang 2 inci)
  • 3 keping tempe (potong nipis dan digoreng garing)
  • 3 keping tauhu ( potong dua setiap satu, digoreng garing dan dihiris-hiris 1/4 inci tebal)

    Untuk kuah kacang:

  • 1 cawan kacang tanah ( digoreng tanpa minyak, buang kulit dan ditumbuk halus)
  • 8 batang cili kering(dipotong2,buang biji dan direndam dengan air panas dan ditoskan)
  • 2 batang cili merah
  • 5 ulas bawang merah (dihiris nipis)
  • 2 sudu besar gula
  • 2 sudu besar kicap manis
  • 1 sudu besar asam jawa (diramas dengan 1 cawan air dan ditapis)
  • 2 sudu besar minyak masak
  • garam

    Cara-cara:

  • Susun sayur-sayuran, tempe dan tahu di dalam sebuah pinggan hidang.
  • Dalam kuali, panaskan minyak dan goreng cili kering, cili merah dan bawang merah hingga garing.
  • Kemudian, masukkan ke dalam lesung batu dan ditumbuk hingga lumat dan masukkan semula ke dalam kuali bekas menggoreng tadi.
  • Masukkan kacang tumbuk dan bahan-bahan lain.
  • Masak menggunakan api sederhana hingga mendidih dan masukkan garam secukup rasa.
  • Bila pekat, padamkan api dan hidang bersama sayur-sayuran, tempe dan tahu tadi.
  • Untuk merasa gado-gado, gaulkan kuah dengan bahan-bahan tadi dan biarkan mereka ‘bergaduh’.
  • Nah……sekarang boleh makan.

Category:

Vegetable Dishes

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