Instant D.I.Y. nasi impit

 

Was unable to up date the recipe yet. Need to attend to immediate commitment at the moment.

Fried anchovies with potatoes

 

Was unable to up date the recipe yet. Need to attend to immediate commitment at the moment.

Meat with sweet soybean sauce

 

Meat with soy bean sauce is a very simple dish/ lauk for lunch or dinner. I'm not sure whether this is a Chinese style of cooking, but the recipe is so easy that anyone can cook it. Here's the ingredients you need to have as well as the procedures you need to take-up.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 kg of meat
2. 6 tbsp of soy sauce
3. salt
4. 2 tbsp of sugar
5. garlic
6. some onions and garlics
7. red chillies or parsimon (yellow/ red) for garnishing
8. oil for frying

Cooking Procedures:

1. Cut the meat into small slices
2. Boil the meat for about 30 mins or until tender
3. Toast it and put aside
4. In a wok, pour oil
5. when it is enough hot, add in the meat. 
6. let it cook for five minutes while stirring the meat  
7. add in soy sauce and garlic
8. add in sugar and salt
9. turn-off the stove

Kek Lapis baked with reference from Chef Zahidah's book

Was unable to up date the recipe yet. Need to attend to immediate commitment at the moment.

Steam Banana Cake (that was so-so)

 

This is a steam banana cake that was made for afternoon tea. It was a coincident that my father-in-law throw a visit to the house. Regarding the recipe, I wa not sure where the source of the recipe came from because it was bake quite some time already. What I could remember was that it was a little bit bitter because I put to omuch soda bicarbonate in it. If I could roughly remember the ingredients, these are the things that you need to have in preparing the cake. My step mother-in-law commented that the taste was bitter and asked me the brand of the baking powder that I used. She used the brand which was produced by the bumiputra (or Malays). I'm not sure what she meant. Was she referring to local product? Anyway, I didn't want to further the discussion when she brought out the issue on that day. For me, as long as it  is halal, any product would do, you agree?

Ingredients: 

1 ripe banana (mashed)
1 egg
1 teaspoon oil
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons baking powder (I supposed I had more)
100g  all-purpose flour

Preparation procedure: 
1. Sift baking powder and flour.
2. In a mixer, pour the baking powder and flour that you've sieved
3. Add oil, water and banana. Stir gently.
4. In a steamer, steam the cake for 30 minutes

Jemput Pisang

 

My neigbour gave some bananas the other day. At that time, it was not really ripe and I thought of making kerepek pisang (banana chips). I remembered when I was studying in the uni., I always requested my belated-mother to prepare kerepek pisang. And always my request was often not neglected. Anyway, since my schedule was quite pack on those days, the bananas were already ripe when I want to make banana crisp. So, here's a quick menu that you can prepare for the family- Jemput pisang  

Ingredients:

5-6  ripe bananas (choices are yours). If you're using pisang mas, you need a lot more

1 1/2 cup of flour

1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 cup of water (adjust it if you want the jemput pisang to be a little flaccid)

salt 

oil for cooking 

Procedures for cooking:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. 

2. Heat oil to begin frying

3. Use your fingers to mould the jemput pisang. Pinch the mixture using  your fingers

4. Put the mixture into the oil gently with your fingers.

5. Continue pinching the mixture until it is finished.

Jemput pisang is best serve when it is still hot. Also, it would be better if you can serve it together with afternoon drink. In my house, afternoon tea is a must and thus, jemput pisang is always in the menu due to its quick preparation time.  

Fried Long Fong Mee

Fried Long Fong mee (Long Fong noodle) is easy to make. I always have the stock at home because sometimes yellow mee is not really convenient due to expiry date. Though Long Fong mee also expires, the date, however, is longer. The saucer that you see in this photos is the property of mother's in-laws. Doesn't it look perfect with the noodles for serving decoration?

Ingredients:

a packet of Long Fong noodles

a cup of bean sprout

2 tbsp of dried prawn (mash)

1 onion

2 garlics

oil for cooking

tomato sauce

chilli sauce

soy bean ketchup

salt

Preparation procedure:

Boil Long Fong mee. Toast it and set aside. In a wok, pour oil. Saute onion and garlic. Add mash prawns. Pur in tomato sauce, chilli sauce and so bean ketchup. Then add in Long Fong mee. Finally, add in bean sprout. Cooking time less than 15 minutes. For serving, spread fried shallots. If pickle chillies are available, it will better. The dish is suitable for breakfast or even for afternoon tea.

Fried instant noodles

My eldest son requested  instant noodles the other day. Due to instant noodles especially its gravy was not healthy, I then decided to fried the noodles. The noodle in the picture above was cooked like mamak style , yet, instead of using yellow noodles you substitute it with maggie mee. It is best to serve hot. Here's the ingredients that you need to have: 

Ingredients

2 packets of maggie mee/ noodles (boil and filter it-set aside)

1 onion and 1 garlic 

oil for cooking 

some vegetables (chinese mustard, tomatoes or bean sprout would do) 

3-5 tbsp of sweet soya sauce

3 tbsp of tomato ketchup*

*you may also add chilli sauce if you want. The kids would be eating the noodles so I omitted it.

For garnishing

red chillies 

fried shallots 

Procedure for cooking  

In a wok, pour oil. Saute onion and garlic. Add vegetables then instant noodles that you have already boiled. Cook for just for a minute or two. Just to make sure that all ingredients are mixed well. That's the end of the procedure of preparing fried instant  noodles. It's ready to go inside your stomach. For serving, spread shallots and limau kasturi (calamondin) on the noodles.

Kokya

 

Kokya is my late mother-in-law's recipe. She often cook it during ramadhan. Again mi lidi (of RM1.00 per package) is used as the main ingredient for the dish. It is eaten with gravy that is called kuah lemak. My husband likes it a lot, yet, he does not favour the gravy. Belacan (shrimp paste) will do for him. I'm not sure where the dish gets its name from but I'm sure it tastes good. By the way, the preparation time was roughly 20 to 30 minutes.  It is suitable for breakfast especially on holidays. Also, it can be served for your guest. Do try this recipe. Below are some of the ingredients (basic huh?) you need to prepare the dish.

Primary Ingredient:

1. a package of mi lidi (noodle)

Boil the noodle and use a filter to toast water from the noodles

Ingredients for garnishing: 

1. mash chillies*

2. cucumber slices

3. belacan (a Malay sauce made with dried shrimp paste and chilies)

4. lemon or limau kasturi 

*I use mash chillies that I make on my own. Cut dried chillies. Boil them. In a blender, put chillies and pour in some water. Blend them well and its ready!

Ingredients for gravy: 

1. a kilo of fish (I prefer tamban)

2. 2 onions and 1 garlic

3. 3 cups coconut milk

4. 1/2 tbsp of pepper

5. 2 cups of water 

6. a pinch of salt

* To make the gravy thick, adjust water and coconut milk.

Procedure to prepare gravy:

1. Poach fish and separate bone of the fish 

2. Use residual of the water that you use to poach the fish to blend the fish. In other words,  the water that you use to poach the fish, will also be used when you want to blend it.

3. Mash onions, garlic and pepper

4. In a pot, pour coconut milk 

5. Add in onions, garlic and pepper

6. Let all the mixture boil for 10 minutes or so. Just enough to cook the coconut milk. 

For serving, put the noodle in the middle of a bowl. Add in shrimp paste, small slices of cucumber, and a slice of lemon/ limau nipis. Then, pour in the gravy at the area around the noodle.

Recycling Project

Ever think what we can do with containers like these? Many of us throw them once they have been used. My late mother always reminded me not to waste things, food or even money. I remembered she would wash jam jars just to use it for other purposes. And she was really good at it. My mother-in-laws also had the same practice of washing jam jars and other containers and later they'll be used to keep other things.

 

Here are  typical containers use to store fermented fish, prawn for stock (don't know when I can prepare it) and ice in my late mother-in-laws kitchen. They may be used once or twice but later they need to be thrown away though. It may be easy for us to just throw them away but have a thought or two before deciding to "get rid" of them.

Label them up

Wonder what with all these images? These are containers that are labeled to ease in finding necessary things for my guess or in-laws when I'm not in the house. Often my in-laws pay their visit to the house (of their mother's) I'm staying. They sometimes cook breakfast/ lunch/dinner while I'm away. Or perhaps they want to cook something. They can make themselves at home and find necessary things that they need in the kitchen cabinet (-  no wonder it looks old. It's custom made and was built in the 70's). It's very useful when I label the containers like the ones shown above. So there's no excuse not finding the things that they want for cooking. Or perhaps they may not be anymore question like, "Mana  la si *** letak garam/ gula ni?". "Teh letak kat mana?".  I remembered my belated mother said, "Kalau anak dara [sejati] bila kat dapur, dia pandai cari sebarang benda nak masak". Well, partly I agree with my mom's idea. I suppose by labeling these containers not only that it is easy to find things you want, it also save time when you're in the kitchen.

Sambal Asam Jawa

Sambal Asam Jawa or tamarind cordiment is a must when there is ikan bakar in the house. Usually when I make the sambal, I eat more sambal than the fish itself- taste much better if it spicy. Last night, I made the sambal and together with it, of course, some ikan tamban that I giilled prior to making the sambal. My husband nagged a little bit because I cooked a little bit late last night. Thought to recite quran a verses or two- Alhamdulillah, managed to read few verses . He was saying something to me but I couldn't hear what he said. After we ate, then he told me that if possible I needed to cook early because the kids had to go to bed at 10pm every night. Okay, that justified the thing he nagged about earlier on. Too much detail of this and that. Now, lets take a look at  two simple steps on how to make the sambal.

Ingredients

1. 15 small chillies 

2. sugar

3. salt

4. tamarind

5. water

  

Procedures

1.  Slice or mash small chillies

2. Add water, tamarind, sugar and salt 

Nasi beryani

I was tempted to make nasi beryani after I watched Best Wan in AFC Astro Channel 703. However, I modified some of the ingredients in that I substituted them with the ones that I had in the kitchen.  I guess  bachelors out there can also prepare it as it can be eaten on its own also (especially at the end of month when you're running out of money). In the recipe below, it could be better if you could use basmati rice. Yet, I cooked it after I performed Maghreb prayer. So you can expect that I needed to use whatever that I had  at hands because my husband and the kids would be dining after Isya'. Here are what you need to have to cook the rice

Ingredients 1 cups rice, washed and drained (use 1 3/4 water as the ratio to cook the rice = 1:1 3/4) 3-4 tbsp margarine (use to saute)  4 onions, peeled and sliced 2 garlic, peeled and sliced 1 lemongrass, bruised 1 bulb  ginger, finely sliced into small strips 1 screw pine leaf or daun pandan, shredded and knotted 2 of chicken stock (I used Knorr)  2 scoops of evaporated milk a hand-full of raisins a hand-full almond (supposedly cashew nuts are more appropriate) bawang goreng (crisped fried shallots) for garnish banana leaves (enough to cover pot) salt to taste 3 Cloves 3 Cardamom Pods 3 Star Anise 1 Cinnamon Stick
Procedures for cooking: In electric cooker, melt margerine and sauté the cloves, cardamom pods, star anise, cinnamon sticks. Add in onions, ginger, lemongrass and daun pandan and fry till golden .Add in raisins. Add in rice and stir gently. Then, add chicken stock, almond nuts/cashew nuts, salt, evaporated milk. Cover the rice with banana leaves, then cover the pot and cook till rice is tender. Serve it hot. For garnishing, spread raisins and almond nuts/ cheshew nuts. If you have green bean you may also spread some.

 

Small flat ball-shaped doughnut

 

The small flat ball-shaped doughnuts taste like the doughnut in my previous entry. I only use 2 cups of flour for this. Please look at the ingredients [here] on how to make the  small flat ball-shaped doughnuts. 

Here's how the dough looks like after the size is doubled. At this stage it's time you make the round shape. In making the round shape, again I used a small container's cover that I got from a kenduri. Except that this time I only use one cover. 

Talking about storing containers, there are a couple of  them which I think are worth to be kept. Perhaps later, they can be used to store spices or even simply using them to store some other things. I usually kept containers so that I don't have to use plates if I want to give the food that I make to my neighbours or my sister-in-laws who just stay not far from my house. 

The fridge n you

That's how the fridge looks like every time I buy groceries. Use tupperware for better storing because they are air-tight. However, the fridge is small, so, some foods (in the package) are just stored as they are. Some useful tips for storing in the fridge:-

1. reduce the temperature of the leftover cooked food 

2. store leftover cooked food in shallow, airtight containers

3. wrapped tightly food cook in cling film/ aluminuim foil

4. store dairy products on the middle shelves

5. avoid putting too much food in the fridge to ensure air circulation 

I wish I could be better at storing food  by following these procedures. All these tips are obtained from http://www.eufic.org/page/en/page/FAQ/faqid/store-food-properly-in-the-fridge/and http://www.helpwithcooking.com/food-storage/refrigeration-tips.html

Cubes for quick cooking stocks

Wonder how we can prepare ingredients and cook faster? For me, I use these cubes- chicken, tomyam, beef and others. There are useful when you don't have chicken stocks in the fridge. And of course when you prepare the stocks, you need more time. To slice meat, chicken and all. So, I would suggest buying the cubes to be efficient when working in the kitchen. If you want the stock to be thick, the ratio would be 1 cup of water : 1 cube. Also, we don't have to add salt. The cubes are already salty. After all, as for me, I don't like to spend long time in the kitchen. Got to do other things as well once I'm at home. 

Mi Goreng Hailam

This is mi goreng hailam I cooked for dinner last night. I bought monthly groceries yesterday after fetching my eldest son, Haziq from school. The ingredients are basically easy to get and the preparation was less than 15 minutes. I sliced chickens and prepare prawns and cuttlefish all at the same time. For vegetables, I used carrot, chinese mustard and cabbage. It's very quick and you still have much time to do house chores or play with your kids after that.       

Ingredients
1. a packet of yellow noodles
2. 1/2 cup of chicken
3. 1/2 cup of prawns
4. 1/2 cup of cuttlefish
5. some cabbage, carrot and chinese mustard6. 5 tbsp of tomato sauce
7. 3 tbsp of pepper sauce (I prefer the pepper sauce made from Sarawak)
8. 7 tbsp of oyster sauce
9. 2 cups of water
10. Onion and garlic
11. red chillies/ fried shallots for garnishing
12. oil for cooking         

Preparation procedures
1. Saute onion and garlic
2. Add in chicken and stir well (cook for about 7 min. or so)
3. Add in prawn and cuttlefish (cook for about 3 min. or so)
4. Pour in water
5. Add in tomato, pepper and oyster sauce
6. Add in all the vege.
7. Turn-off the stove    

For serving, put mi goreng hailam in a bowl and spread red chilles as well as some shallots on it. If you like, you can also spread some spring onions. Add water if you want the gravy to be a little watery. And of course, if you want to be a little spicy, add pepper sauce.

Char Keow Teow



I cooked Char Keow Teow for lunch when my father-in-law stopped by at the house before going to the mosque for Friday prayers. For a quick dish, I think Char Keow Teow is best when it is still hot. All the ingredients for Char Keow Teow  are already in the refrigerator, so I guess they are perfect mixture to make the noodle. It didn't take me long to prepare it. And once my husband and my father-in-law got back from their prayers, I served it perfectly.

Ingredients
1. 1 packet of keow teow
2. 1 cup of bean sprout
3. a hand-full of chives leaves
4. 3-4 cups of prawn stock
5. 2 onions (dice)
6. 1 garlic (dice)
7. 500 gms of prawn
8. 2 eggs

Preparation
1. Prepare chicken prawn first by peeling the prawn's skin. You may also include the prawn's head if you want. Add in water and let it boil for 10 minutes.
2. Saute onions and garlic
3. Add in the prawn's stock
4. Add in prawn. Let the ingredients that you add in thus far for 7 minutes
5. Then, add in keow teow
6. Turn off the stove
7. Add the eggs
8. Add bean sprouts and chives leaves

Garnishing
You may spread fried onions, red/ green chillies and spring onions. Serve it hot.

Chocolate Doughnut

I've been making the doughnut for almost every week lately. The children requested it but I could only fulfill their request on Sunday or Saturday. Mama is working, and the only day that I can concentrate preparing all my lovely children's food is when I'm on holiday n weekends. I made 23 pieces of doughnuts out of 500 gms flour.  Basically when it comes to making doughnut or bread, I personally feel that time really matters. This is  because we have to double the size of the dough in making it. Let  me share the ingredients of making the doughnut as you can see below.

Ingredients
1. 500 gms of flour
2. 7.5 gms of mauripan yeast
3. 1 1/2 cup of water (depends on flour you're using)
4. some chocolate rice
5. shortening
6. a pinch of salt
7. chocolate cooking

Preparation
1. Sift flour
2. Add in yeast
3. Add in water
4. Knead dough until flour doesn't stick to your fingers anymore
5. Let it rest for 30 minutes
6. Mould doughnut according to your preference
7. Let it rest for another 30-40 minutes before you fry it

Chocolate topping
As for chocolate topping, you just need to double boil the chocolate cooking and shortening. Use spoon to put the chocolate topping on top of doughnuts.

I use 2 bottles' caps, one is smaller and the other one is bigger in making the dougnut shape. First, I use the smaller one for the doughnut's shape. The smaller cap is used to make the round at the centre of the doughnut. I know that I can save more time when I use doughnut mould and in fact, I saw one in the supermarket the other day. But I didn't intend to buy it since I got more creative 'tools' that I could use for the doughnut's mould. Creativity pays-off when the kids enjoyed the doughnuts.

Asam Pedas Ikan Tenggiri

Ikan Tenggiri is a type of mackerel fish. I choose ikan tenggiri for asam pedam because I think it tastes better compared to other fish. Well, of course ikan tenggiri is not able to challenge ikan pari or  eagle ray when it comes to cooking asam pedas. I brought all the ingredients from pekan sehari the other day. Since it is Sunday, I guess I cook something which I really long to eat. I always love asam pedas ;-). Asam pedas that is displayed here doesn't taste that sour or spicy as the one sold in restaurants. It's because the children would be eating it. Thus, I need to adjust it taste. My children of ages 7, 4 and 1 and a half yrs, just want the gravy or the soup. So, here's the ingredients to cook my version of 'a minimalist asam pedas'.

Ingredients: 
1. A kg of ikan tenggiri
2. 7 lady fingers
3. 2 tomatoes
4. 5 tbsp of asam jawa (it may be substituted with asam keping/ gelugor)*
* see here for what asam gelugor is
5. 6 cups of water
6. a pinch of salt
7. 3 stems of viatnamese leaves
8. 3 onions and 1 garlic
9. 2-3 tbsp grind chilli

Procedures:
1. Saute garlic, onions and grind chilli
2. Pour in water
3. Add in ikan tenggiri
4. Let it boil for 10 minutes or so
5. Add viatnames leaves and lady fingers
6. Again let it boil for 5 minutes. Just to make sure lady fingers are a little sear.
7. Add in salt
8. Turn-off the stove

Asam pedas is a dish that you eat together with rice. It's my favourite because it is spicy yet sour. Also, I always love to put more lady fingers in it. Do try the recipe here with these simply step-by-step what you need to do in preparing one.

Pineapple with sweet soybean sauce

Pineapple with sweet soybean sauce can be eaten on its own or it can be eaten as a side dish (lauk) with rice. You can also get a version of it from street hawkers around Malaysia. I remembered when I was a primary school pupil, the teacher reminded us not to buy from hawkers simply because they claimed that  foods from hawkers were not hygienic. As a young girl, it made me think that all foods sold by hawkers must be avoided. It was only later in my life- to be exact when I went to secondary school, then I realised that pineapple spreaded with some sugar and soybean sauce was really tasty. What make the taste so good? I think it's because you taste the sourness/sweetness of the pineapple itself, plus of couse, the soybean sauce. And it's also spicy. These combination, I think is a 'booster' when you eat it with rice. So, here's a quick step to serve one for you. 

Ingredients:

1. A pineapple 

2. 8 tbsp of soybean sauce  

3. pinch of salt

4. 5 tbsp of sugar (you may add/lessen it)

6. 10 chillies

Procedures: 

1. Slice the pineapples and chillies according to your preferences

2. Put all the pineapples on a plate

3. Spread salt and sugar

4. Mix it well

5. Spread chillies as garnishing

Fried meat with purple cabbage

I went to a local market the other day and bought cabbage having no idea what I would do with it. In other words, I simply bought it because it looked 'beautiful'. I haven't tried making any dish using purple cabbage in my entire life- not even salad! It was only yesterday that I bought the cabbage out of the refrigerator. So, what's for lunch? Pulling the bottom compartment of the refrigerator, I then decided to cook the cabbage. But what were the ingredients 'best' suited for it? Well, it seemed that I didn't have much choice. There were only carrot, cucumber, red chillies, egg toufu and of course some meat. So, I decided to just fried all the ingredients and name it.. KoGu FuDaLia- basically the name came out when I combine all the ingredients that were used to make the dish. Sounds familiar? He He...

Here's what you need to cook the dish:-
1. 1/2 kg meat
2. 3 cups of cabbage
4. a carrot
5. 1 inch of ginger
6. onions and garlic (the quantity is as you like it to be)
7. a cucumber
8. 1 unit of egg taofu (a cylinder-like packaging, can get it fr. local supermarket)
9. oil for frying
10. a pinch of salt
11. soybean sauce (kicap manis- sweetened soybean sauce. You can get any brand you want, but I like Cap Kipas Udang).
12. 1 cup of water

Procedures for cooking.
1. Heat oil
2. Add meat
3. Pour a cup of water onto the meat
4. When the meat is soft, saute onion, garlic.
5. Then immediately add ginger. Once you can smell the aroma of these ingredients..
6. Add all the vegetables

There you have it. It's nice if you can serve it hot. I suppose it can be eaten with porridge or rice. Not sure about bread. Happy trying!

Chiffon cake

This is the chiffon cake I made a couple of weeks ago. The idea to make the cake was spontaneous. I browsed through the internet to find something to bake. I just planned to cook something which is simple and the most important thing is that ingredients that are needed to make the cake are in the kitchen's house. So I browsed and browsed until I stop at Mat Gebu's blog. After looking at the demonstration of how the chiffon cake is cooked, I then decided to give it a try.

In the middle of preparing the ingredients, I didn't realise that there was no pandan paste in the kitchen. I quickly ran to the back of the house to take two pieces of pandan leaves. I mixed water and blended the leaves, using my hunches of how much it would be sufficient to replace the pandan paste in the actual recipe. Also, I realised that I didn't have custard flour. It is used to make the chiffon's filling. But I guess it would be okay. Due to this, I omitted the filling. Mixing here and there...stirring right and left, so here's my version of the cake. Actual recipe is in Mat Gebu's blog... take a look it at for bettter procedures of baking the cake.