#91 SAMBAL TOMAT;recipe#68

Tomat in Indonesian means tomato. I presume the reason why this is called "sambal tomat" is because of the use of tomato in this "sambal". When you go to Indonesian restaurants, you'll probably be served with this kind of "sambal", the taste is slightly different from our "sambal tumis" because it has the intense flavour of shrimp paste. I learned this sambal from my maid and enjoyed eating it every time I made it. However, those who had "problem" with the smell and taste of shrimp paste , I don't recommend this dish to you... :)

Ingredients:
2 green chillies - break into 2 pcs
2 red chillies - break into 2 pcs
1 ripe tomato- cut into wedges
4 shallots
2 garlic
shrimp paste- 2 pcs garlic size- roasted
juice fro 1 lime
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
oil for frying

steps:
heat oil in skillet
when oil is hot, add in chillies, shallots and garlic
using low flame, fry them till soft and a little char, add in the tomato wedges
when tomato is soft , off the flame
coarsely pound the fried "thingy" and roasted shrimp paste in a mortar


before transferring the "sambal' into a clean plate, add the sugar, the soy sauce and the lime juice.
best serve with cucumber slices or "keropok"..... Yummy~

#90 ....

To all Muslim readers of this hideaway...... Happy Maal Hijrah
TO ALL READERS.... THANK YOU. SINCE OCT 2006 TILL NOW THIS BLOG HAVE RECORDED OVER 4000 VISITORS, AND THAT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR SUPPORT... HAVE A NICE WEEKEND.

P/S THANK YOU AUNI FOR MAKING THIS BANNER FOR MUMMY....

#89 Spicy Taucho Honey Chicken : recipe #67

My back still hurts, but I still have to cook for my family. So, I had to do a meal that doesn't require much effort..
Ingredients :
boneless chicken- to be prepared like the one in buttermilk chicken
sauce:
2 clove garlic - chopped
1 dsp sliced young ginger
2 dsp spicy bean paste
1 dsp honey
1 dsp golden syrup
1/2 cup apple juice
chicken stock
1 green chili
juice from 1 lime
1 tomato - cut into wedges
1 small can sliced button mushroom
cornflour slurry

steps:
* heat oil in wok
* Add in chopped ginger and garlic, fry till fragrant
* add in the taucho, honey and golden syrup, mix well
* add in the prepared chicken, add in the lime, apple juice and chicken stock , simmer
* add in the vegies and cornflour slurry
* cook further till gravy thickens
* adjust seasonings and dish up.

There you are, an easy dish for even a back pain sufferer like me :)

#88 BUTTERMILK CHICKEN :recipe #66

Since I suffered from the severe backpain, my creativity as well as my enthusiasm to cook decreases. I am also very worried about my grandpa who is very sick in Tutong. My grandpa is one of the prominent figures in my life, even more after his daughter, my late mom died when I was just 10 years old. I always remember him as a strong figure, very active, very independent and has always been there for me during my ups and downs and loving me unconditionally. Now, seeing him in a helpless state , trully give an impact to my state of mind right now.
Anyway I have no idea what to cook today , so I used Ihsan's buttermilk chicken but had improvised it according to what we had in our kitchen. Here's the recipe taken from Ihsan's blog ( Thank you Ihsan... its a very yummy recipe )

Ingredients: Boneless chicken, cut into cubes/strips
Cornflour
Butter or margarine, 4-5 tablespoons - I used 2 dessertspoons
5 curry leaves - I used 2 sprigs, that's about 20 leaves :)
Dried chillies, chopped, to taste (you can use fresh cili padi, if you want)- I used 1 large green chilli and 1 large red chilli
Evaporated milk, 150ml - I used anlene fresh milk
2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar (adjust as you like) - I omitted this
Spring onions, chopped
Salt and pepper, maybe some chicken stock

What to do:

1. Season chicken with salt, pepper and chicken stock. Coat with corn flour and fry. (deep fry or shallow, I just used shallow frying) Try and get it golden brown. Set aside.
2. Melt butter over a gentle heat and fry chopped chillies and curry leaves until it starts to smell good *drool* - I added I tbsp chopped garlic after melting butter :)
   
3. Add evaporated milk and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Keep the pan on the heat until the sauce is nice and thick. (Butter should be combined with milk - just like white sauce!)
4. Add in chopped spring onions and fried chicken. Mix well to cover in the sauce. Serve!
   

recipe taken from Ihsan's " Food for thought" blog. You can serve it hot or cold.. it's a yummy recipe.... try it.

#87 Japanese sweet potatoes muffins : recipe #65

I had some of these that I bought at Hua Ho few days back. The plan was to make "Kuih Keria", but then I was running out of coconut milk so I made these instead. This was my first experiment of making muffins from sweet potatoes . The muffins were so light, fluffy and I must say it's yummy. My children did not eat these, as they do not like sweet potatoes. There's no picture for this one because my camera was out of power (flat batteries) and by the time I bought the batteries , these are already gone... perhaps the next time I made these, I 'll post the picture.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mashed , boiled Japanese sweet potatoes
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Double acting baking powder
1 and 1/2 cup flour

granulated sugar for sprinkling

steps:
1. Pre heat oven to 160 degrees
1. combine all ingredients in a mixer beat till all are combined
2. grease muffin pan and sprinkle flour to prevent muffin from sticking
3. pour mixture to the prepared muffin pan, sprinkle the top with sugar
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or till muffins are done.

#86 Baked Omellette beef roll: recipe #64

This roll is a very simple dish to do and I can assure you that it disappears fast !!!
Ingredients:
2 pcs of omelletes
2 handful thinly sliced beef ( to be marinated at least for 30 minutes)
marinade: 1 tsp worcestershire
1 dsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sushimi soys sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 dsp sesame oil
1 dsp mint sauce ( the one in plenty of vinegar)

1 dsp sweet soya sauce
corn flour slurry
1 egg-beaten
a handful japanese bread crumbs
1 dsp chopped garlic
1 dsp chopped ginger
vegies of your choice ( optional)

steps:
Making the filling:
1. Heat oil in wok
2. fry in garlic and ginger till fragrant
3. add in the marinated beef and fry till just cook ( add a little amount of water if needed)
4. lastly add in the sweet soya sauce and corn flour slurry .
5. adjust seasoning and dish up

the roll.....
1. In a plate, placed an omellete.
2. place half the meat filling onto the omellete and roll the omellete.
3. repeat the above steps for the other omelette

baking the roll.....
1. grease the casserole with oil
2. place both rolls in the casserole.
3. pour the beaten egg on top of the roll followed by the japanese bread crumbs.
4. bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees until the bradcrumbs turning golden brown.

#85 LEFT OVER CHICKEN TRIANGLES: recipe #63

Left- over chicken, what to do with them? Here's an option:
Ingredients:
My salty bread dough
left-over chicken
onion-diced
garlic-chopped
boiled potatoes- diced to small cubes
milk/cream
corn flour slurry
chicken stock and white pepper to taste

steps: cooking the filling
1. heat oil in wok
2. fry in the onion and garlic till fragrant
3. add in the chicken, cream and seasonings, simmer for 3 minutes
4. add in the potatoes and cornflour slurry
5. adjust seasoning and dish up

assembling the triangles
1. cut the dough to squares
2. put the filling at the centre of the square and fold the dough to form triangles
3. seal the edges and prick the top of dough with fork
4. brush the triangles with egg wash.

Bake the triangles for 15 min at 160 degrees or until cooked

#84 GREEN CHILLIES WITH GOLDEN NEEDLES AND BAMBOO SHOOT : recipe #62

Local people living in my area love to eat stir fried green chillies. They cook it just like we cook our long beans. The dish has this amazing flavour and not forgetting, the heat after eating the dish was some what overwhelming. My hubby loves to eat anything with green chillies.
Golden needles are dried flower buds of the tiger lily and have unique musky flavour. They are also known as "kim cham" or "bunga pisang", usually an ingedient to make the "sayur foo chuk". I happen to have some in my fridge and decided to use them in this dish.
Auni, on the other hand likes to eat bamboo shoots/rebung... I combined the three so that the dish will not be that hot. Here is the recipe:

Ingredient:
1 handful sliced, boiled bamboo/ bamboo in cans
a handful golden needles
7 green chilies- sliced diagonally
1 shallot
1 garlic
-chicken stock powder to taste
- a little vinegar
-cornflour slurry
steps:
1. heat wok, add oil
2. fry shallots and garlic till fragrant
3. add the vegies
4. season with chicken stock and vinegar
5. add in the corn flour slurry
6. adjust seasoning and dish up.

#83 KERABU MEMBANGAN : recipe #61

Its fruit season in Brunei so a lot of local fruits are available in the market. I bought "membangan" , 3 for B$2.00. Very cheap indeed, and quite a lot too, I've made one fruit into the usual "sambal membangan" and her'e another recipe that you can do within minutes :)

Ingredients:
Membangan flesh from 1 fruit, cut into small pieces.
1 spanish onion, cut into thin slices
1 garlic- chopped
2 red chilli- sliced
a few birds' eyes chili ( optional)
juice from 2 lime
1 tsp salt
fish sauce

step:
combine all ingredients, leave for at least 15 minutes before serving

#82 FRIED KWAY TEOW WITH BEEF: recipe #60

Kway Teow is culturally Chinese. However, this kind of noodles are popular to other ethnic groups including Malays as well. I've not buy Kway Teow from restaurants for quite sometime now, but I remembered Hj Omar Keeboys' at Medewa and Hj Metali's Firdaus restaurants served good quality fried Kway Teow. I hope they still do.

Ingredients:
300g Kway teow
50 gram beef-sliced to thin strips
2 green chilis - sliced
1 handful bean sprouts

seasonings:
2 dsp soya sauce
2 dsp sweet soya sauce
1 dsp sushi vinegar
1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
2 dsp chili sauce- I used "singapore" chili sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp white pepper

steps:
1. Heat wok using high flame, add in the oil
2. fry in the shallots and gralic till fragrant
3. add in the meat, when meat tender , add in the seasonings except the sweet soya sauce
4. add in the noodles and the vegies
5. lastly add in the sweet soya sauce
6. Adjust the seasonings.
Bon Apetit~

#81 CURRIED STIR FRIED LONG BEANS : recipe #59

This is one of the dish that my family enjoy including Dayini who is very picky when it comes to vegies. H ere's the recipe:

Ingredients:
I bowl cut long beans
2 shallots-sliced
1 garlic- sliced
1 red chilli -sliced
1 dsp curry powder ( add in more if you want a spicer version)
1 dsp tomato sauce
chicken stock powder
1 egg- beaten.

steps:
-Heat oil in wok
- add in the shallots and garlic , fry until fragrant
- add in the beans, tomato sauce, curry powder, chilli , chicken stock powder and a little water
- cover the wok with a lid and reduce the flame
- when the beans are half cooked, make a well at the centre of the wok, add in a little oil and add in the egg.
- make sure the egg is half -cooked before incorporating it to the vegies.
-adjust seasoning and dish up

#80 MEXICAN BUN aka ROTI BOY: recipe #57

I love making buns, you only have to know the basic bread recipe , the savoury and the sweet version , and using a little bit of your creativity, you can make different kinds of bread. This recipe is using the sweet dough ( see my #48 recipe). The variation is just the filling and the topping.. This time round, I didn't make the filling because the filling is basically butter and sugar, which really put me off. However, I just made the topping which consisted of butter, sugar, cinnamon powder, icing sugar, salt, flour and COFFEE powder which are creamed together to form the "cake-like" consistency before applying it on top of the bun, just before baking. The way to apply the topping is just like you do icing on a cake. try it :)

#79 BREAD VARIANTS, CALZONE: Recipe #56

I was at the staffroom yesterday and I had the chance to have a "food talk" with my collegue , Hugh, who also likes to cook and bake. He mentioned " calzones" and " pasties". And for last night dinner, I made a calzone , which is basically covered pizza, or should I say extra-large curry-puff.
I have in my fridge , meat filling and boiled potatoes... so, I only have to make the dough (see my bread recipe)and when the dough is ready , I added in the filling and cheese and... the result is wa~laa.
Traditionally calzone 's filling is beef and spinach but you can use whatever filling you want .. I think I want to try pineapple and cinnamon soon :)

#78 Easy fried Chicken fillet: recipe #55

My children love this dish..they are crispy on the outside and tender and moist in the inside. Some people will say why waste time when you can buy this from the fast food restaurant? Well, for me I am very particular about the cleanliness of my dishes and I used fresh sun-flower oil to fry the chicken :) . Enough said, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
300gram chicken fillets- cut into long slices
marinade:
1 dsp chopped ginger
1 dsp chopped garlic
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 egg-beaten
1 dsp corn flour + 3tbsp water- to make corn flour slurry
salt to taste( a bit more of this sauce is needed as the flour to coat the fillet during frying has no seasoning)

flour mixture:
3/4 cup all purpose flour mixed with 3tbsp corn flour

steps:
marinade the chicken in the fridge for at least 2 hrs but preferably 4 hrs
heat the wok
put in a large amount of oil for deep fat frying
coat each fillet slices with the flour mixture before frying them at medium flame
when the fillets are golden in colour, remove from oil
serve while warm

p/s I ate these fillet with my home-made black berry sauce... yummy!

#77 My First post 2007... Yahoo!

Yeah... I am blogging again... Life has been hectic eventhough its just the fourth day of the new year.
Firstly, the maid is still on her holiday.. and I hate ironing :( ,
secondly, I have to leave my boy with our Ustaz's wife ,
thirdly, I have to throw away my notes because of the recent flood that hit our school ,
fourthly My office space is still in a chaotic state due to the flood...,
fifthly, there's no U turn linking Lambak-Kiri and Rimba, because the soil near to the road and under the road was eroded.. so I have to go to Lambak and back to the highway, which cost me 5-7 minutes of my "journey"time,
and lastly, it seemed that some drivers used the "bahu jalan" to "potong queue" ...this happened especially when I picked my girls from schools, these drivers simply"barged in their cars" eventhough they knew that there were 20 or more cars waiting for their queue.. how selfish.

Happy New year people.. to My students.. learn your ATP, glycolysis and Kreb's cycle :)