#193: Telur masak lemak : #138

I had not eat this dish since I was pregnant with Auni, that was 11 years back!. A very simple dish, and very much Malay dish. Here's the recipe

Ingredients:
4 eggs
a bit of belacan mix with a bit of water
coconut milk diluted with a bit of water
chicken stock powder

to be sliced:
2 shallots
1 garlic
a bit of ginger
1 ginger
1 fresh chili

steps:
- In a pot combine, santan , belacan , chicken stock powder and the sliced ingredients.
- When the soup is boiling, break an egg into the soup , let it cooked first before adding another. repeat with the other 2 eggs. adjust seasoning and dish up

#192: Baulu Sepang aka Honeycomb cake : recipe #137

Kek Sarang was very much my favourite cake as long as I can remember. This is still one of my favourite cakes. I remembered eating it during Hari Raya and every time my friend Aisah Sani balik kampong to Seria, she will bring Kek Sarang to the hostel. I also remembered during one of the Hari Raya, My cousin Sarinah asked me to accompany her to her friend's house in Liang and we end up bringing Kek Sarang balik to BSB as Tapau haha. I have a number of Kek Sarang recipes but this one is my favourite. It's from a book by Hjh Afsiah Hj Abdullah... "Hidangan Warisan Kita". Instead of large holes, the holes are smaller and the texture is less "plastic". On upper part of the cake is moist just like madu. So here's the recipe..

Ingredients:
(to be sifted together)
1 bowl flour
3 tsp bicarbonate of soda

caramel:
1 bowl sugar
300ml water

3/4 bowl sugar
1 bowl eggs ( shells removed)
1 can evaporated milk
5 tbsp butter

steps:
1. In a clean pan, put 1 bowl of sugar and cook till sugar melts and brown (caramalised). Add 300 ml water and boil the mixture till the volume of the mixture reduced to 300ml. Cool the mixture.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs and sugar till sugar dissolved. Add the caramel, milk, flour and butter. Stir till combined. Pour mixture through a strainer. Keep aside for 4 hours.
3. Bake the mixture at 120C till the cake is cooked ( about 1 hour or so).
4. Cool the cake before cutting it into pieces.

Note: If the colour of the cake is not dark brown, add a little amount of gravy browning

#191: Mamak-style fried chicken: recipe #136

Another experiment of mine. It turned out to be delicious. You can use cut chicken pieces or chicken fillets.

Ingredients:
Chicken pieces


marinade:
Turmeric powder
Dried chili paste
salt
vinegar
oyster sauce
kentucky fried chicken original flour

steps:
Marinade chicken for at least 15 minutes before frying.
Fry till chicken is cooked and the outside is crispy.

#190 : Doughnuts: recipe#135

The way Darwish eats doughnuts is very funny, he will place the doughnut on a plate and eat the doughnuts macam kucing haha!. This is his favourite kuih, I frequently made this especially for him. The girls prefer the savoury bread better.

Ingredients:
11 g yeast+ 1/4 warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp milk powder
3/4 butter
5 cups flour
sugar- for sprinkling

steps:
-In a large bowl, mix the yeast mixture add sugar, more water, salt, milk powder , butter and 2 cups flour. Stir to combine. When mixture is well combined, add in the other 3 cups of flour, stir using spatula. The mixture will of cakey consistency, so don't worry kalau mixture is a bit lembik. let the dough rise for 1 hour before shaping them into doughnut shapes.

- heat oil in pan, when oil is semi-hot, put in the doughnuts and fry till cook. Drained cooked doughnuts and sprinkle with sugar. If you like you can use chocolate icing as well.

#189: Nasi Dagang : recipe #134

T his recipe was taken from MamaFami's fotopage. I never had Nasi Dagang before, but was very curious about it because in Malaysian TV, kalau bab makan-makan, mesti ada mention pasal Nasi Dagang. So out of curiousity, I cooked this and this time is my 3rd time and I guess more to come..
Ingredients:
3 cups fragrant rice - washed and drained
1 cup glutinous rice ( pulut) - washed and drained
2 shallots- sliced
1 tbsp Halba
salt
enough santan to cook the rice

steps:
mix all ingredients in a rice cooker and cook until rice is fluffy. dish up

#188: Mango Sambal : recipe #133

A lot of tehse at pasar borong, the price? still mahal. anyway, I usually make various sambal with these, but as usual ... hurry...hurry is always the main issue... so I came up with this version;

Ingredients:
3 raw mangoes- peeled and seeded
fresh chilies
roasted belacan/shrimp paste
dry prawn- soaked in water
salt and sugar to taste
1 limau kesturi

steps:
1. In a blender, put in the roasted belacan, dried prawns and red chilies
2. On the blender... add in the mangoes and blend the ingredients together. Make sure there are still bigger bits of mangoes in the sambal.
3. season with salt, sugar and kesturi.

#187: Lobak putih masak skim milk: recipe #133

The healthier version of the usual masak lemak ! hehe

Ingredients:
lobak putih- 3 "plants": cut into slices- separate the roots and stem part from the leafy part.
1 fresh red chili- sliced
2 shallots-sliced
1 clove garlic
chicken stock powder
skim milk- 1 cup
water

Steps:
- Heat oil in wok, add in the shallots, garlic and red chili and fry till fragrant.
- Add in the stem and root parts, add in a bit of water, cover the wok with lid and cook for about 3 minutes
- Add in the milk, leafy part and the chicken stock powder. Cook for another 2 minutes. adjust seasoning and dish up .

#186: Nasi Minyak : recipe#132

Ingredients:
3 cups rice - washed and drained
1 inch cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 large onion + 1 clove garlic- blended
1 cup fresh milk
water to top up the milk
1 tbsp ghee
salt and chicken stock powder to taste

Step:
1. In a pot, heat the ghee, add more if you want a more oily rice.
2. Add in the cinnamon stick , fry till fragrant
3. Add in the blended materials and the turmeric powder. stir to combine
4. Add in the rice- fry till rice appear transparent.
5. Add in the milk , water and the seasoning. Bring the rice to boil, then transfer to the rice cooker/ lower the flame - adjust seasoning, add more water if you think the rice is a bit dry.
6. Cook the rice till fluffy. Dish up

#185: Gulai Ayam : recipe#131

Another version of "Malay" chicken . Goes well with "nasi beraneka" such as nasi minyak, nasi lemak or nasi dagang. Here's the recipe

Ingredients:
Whole chicken- skin removed and cut into pieces
Kerisik - either you make your own or like me ... instant one from the supermarket
Tamarind juice
chicken stock powder

blended together:
10 Shallots
3 cloves garlic
ginger- 1 inch
lemon grass-1 pc
dried chili paste
5 pcs "buah keras"- soak in water for 10 minutes
1tsp turmeric powder

Method:
#1 Heat oil in pan, add blended ingredients, fry till fragrant, then add chicken.
#2 Cover pan with lid, reduce the flame
# 3 Simmer chicken till tender, add water if gravy becomes too dry.
#4. When chicken is tender, add the chicken stock powder, tamarind juice and "kerisik".
#5 Adjust seasoning and dish up

#183: Souffle Cheesecake : recipe #130

This is a truly amazing recipe, also taken from lily's blog. Miss SLY agreed that this is the recipe that she was looking for. For texture this is a perfect 10 but it is 9.5 for taste. Cotton soft, to me scored a perfect 10 for taste but 9.5 for texture. I told Miss SLY that I would make a hybridized cake by combining the 2 recipes together so that I can make a cake that scores 10/10 for texture and taste :) .

Ingredients :
A
Plain cream cheese 225 g- I used 250g
fresh cream 50ml - I used whip cream
milk 100ml
butter 80g - I used 2 heap and 1 not so heap tbsp butter

B
Cornflour 25 g - I used nearly 1 heap tbsp
milk 30ml
lemon juice -1 tbsp

C
Egg white 150g - I used 4 whites from large eggs
corn flour 10g - 1/3 heaped tbsp
fine castor sugar 100g - I used 31/3 heap tbsp

D
Egg yolks 138g - I used 7 yolks from large eggs

butter and plain flour ( for buttering the mould)

steps:
1. Melt A over a pan of simmering water until the mixture liquifies, use spatula to stir the mixture well
2. Mix B. Until cornflour dissolves. Pour into the cream mixture, stir till well combined. Add in the beaten yolks and strain the mixture.
3. Preheat oven to 150 degree C- Prepare cake tin. If using spring form tin, make sure to line the outside with 2 layers of aluminium foil.
4. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites till foamy and add in the sugar and cornflour in 3 batches and beat until soft peaks are formed.
5. Take 1/3 egg white and stir into the cream cheese mixture to loosen the batter. Pour the remaining egg whites and using cut and fold method quickly fold in the egg whites, do not overfold or else the air in the eggs will escape.
6. As in the cotton soft, pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in a water bath.
7. Put in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes , reduce the heat to 100 C and continue baking for 1 hour. Let the cake cools in the oven before transferring it to the fridge.

#182: Cotton -soft Japanese Cheesecake: recipe #129

One day at school, Miss SLY mentioned about a soft-version cheese cake that she had eaten made by one of our colleague. She asked her the recipe but ... unfortunately was not given. She mentioned to me that the cake might be " cotton soft Japanese cheese cake". I browsed through the net and stumbled upon a very nice food blog owned by Lily Wai Sek Hong, at http:// lilyng2000.blogspot.com and had retrieved 2 very yummy cheesecake recipes. This cake has soft fluffy texture on the top and soft texture at the bottom.

Ingredients:

A - Melt in a double boiler - cool the mixture
250g cream cheese
50g butter
100ml heavy whip cream

60g superfine flour
20 g corn flour
6 yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp lemon zest
1/4 salt
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
140g fine granulated sugar ( divide into 2, one half for the yolk mixture and the other for the egg whites)

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 150 degree celcius.
2. Prepare a cake tin ( buttered& sprinkle with flour) - I used spring formcake tin.
3. Fold in the flours, egg-yolks, sugar, lemon juice into the cream mixture ( A) . Stir till well combine
4. Whisk egg till foamy, then add in cream of tartar and whisk on the highest speed.
5. Add in the sugar gradually and whisk until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 of the whisked egg to the cream- flour mixture. Mix it really well.
6. Fold in the rest of the egg whites, but do not over mix.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. place cake tin in a water bath (put the cake tin in another pastry tin filled with water).
8. Bake till golden brown for about 1 hour.
9. Leave the cake in the oven until the cake cools.
10. When cake cools, keep the cake in the fridge before cutting it.

#181: Potato fritata: recipe#128

I had 3 extra egg whites after I made the souffle cheesecake, so I used that to make this omelette.

Ingredients:
Eggs- I used 3 egg whites and 3 whole eggs
1 tsp paprika
1 small potato grated
2 cloves garlic
a dash of white pepper
salt to taste.

steps :
- beat the eggs, then add the rest of the ingredients.
- heat oil in wok using slow flame. When oil is warm, add in the eggs mixture. cover pan with lid, cook slowly until the underside of the omelette is golden brown , then turn to the other side to cook the other side as well.

#178: Buttered grilled chicken: recipe#127

The children were bored with my usual cooking, so yesterday morning I cooked these instead. The flavour of the butter " soak" well into the chicken fillets. We ate ours for lunch at about 1.00 p.m. At about 1.45 I rushed to the STEP center at Muara for the Olympiad meeting. I had a bad news waiting for me. I had been appointed as one of the protocols for the prize presentation ceremony which will be held on Saturday 26th May at the JPCC. That day I am supposed to be having a class with my Bio block 1 and an extra class followed after that. I am very much concerned about my upper sixes as they will be having their AS exam on 29th, 30th May and another paper in June. So I think I will have to go on with my plan, revising with my students, as I am paid to teach and to me attending the "STEP thingy" is my last priority. AS exams will cover 3 papers and A2 cover 2 papers... these 5 papers constitute the A-level exams. Students should "nail" these 2 exams because the A level result will depend not only on their A2 exams but also their AS exams. BTW, here's the recipe

Ingredients:
500g chicken fillets- skin removed

butter paste:
butter - 2 tbsp
paprika- 1 tsp
allspice powder - 1 tsp
white pepper powder- 1 tsp
salt to taste
- stir and mix these till combined

steps:
-Wipe clean the chicken fillets with kitchen tissue
-Arrange the chicken fillets onto a grill pan, put the butter paste onto the chicken fillets. Turn the chicken fillets to the other side, and apply the butter paste.
- Put the grill pan onto the stove and cook the fillets at medium flame with the pan till the fillets are done, making sure both surface of the chicken are browned. When chicken are done, transferred them to a serving plate.
- Add 1/2 cup of water to the grill pan, when the gravy has boiled, add corn-flour slurry to the gravy . Stir to combine. When gravy has thickens, pour on top of the fillets.

#176: Very Simple Fried Tempe: recipe #126

Other than making sambal from tempe, my usual way of cooking tempe is simply shallow fry or deep frying them. You can eat them as snacks or as a side dish for your meals. Here is the preparation:

Tempe- cut into thin strips, lengthwise
salt
nutmeg powder/grated nutmeg (the main seasoning)
white pepper powder
oil for frying.



-mix the tempe with salt, nutmeg and pepper, keep aside for at least 10 minutes before frying.
- fry till golden brown.

#175: Cream Puff: recipe #125

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I learned to cook through experimenting. One of the toughest pastry I learned through the hard way is the Choux pastry. Every time I took them out from the oven.... they collapsed. It was always like that until I entered one of the website that suggested that the baked puff must be pricked to release the steam and baked further for 5 minutes. Today, I made about 16 of these, half of them I put in the curry filling and the others I put in the Durian custard filling. Here's the recipe:

Choux pastry:
2 tbsp ( heaped) flour + 1/4 tsp salt- sifted
125ml water
1/4 cup butter
3 medium eggs

steps:
1. Combine butter and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil
2. When butter has melted , remove from heat and add flour, all at once.
3. Stir vigorously to combine. Stir until the mixture forms a ball that leaves the sides of the pan clean. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes.
4. Using an electric mixer, add eggs one by one to the dough, making sure that the first egg has been incorporated completely before adding the next.
5. Pipe 50 cents-sized mounds onto lightly greased baking pan.
6. Bake until the puff turns golden, prick the puffs and bake further for 5 more minutes. cool on a wire rack
7. To serve: Cut puffs horizontally slicing them only about three quarters through. Spoon or pipe filling of your choice into the puffs. Serve at once.

note: For the savoury filling, I used my left-over meat filling and for the sweet filling , I combined cream cheese , sugar, custard powder, Durian pulps and milk, blend them and cooked them in the microwave oven until the custard thickened.
I would want to make these again.

#171: Sweet dark chicken fillets : recipe#124

Monday, another "rushed" morning and another recipe pop into my mind. Also yummy with sotong. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
Chicken fillets coated with pre-prepared Kentucky flour original - just follow the instructions on box

sauce:
oyster sauce
sweet soya sauce
chicken stock powder

steps:

• deep/shallow fry the chicken fillet
• In another pan, heat oil, put in the oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken stock powder and a little water. Cook till gravy thickens, then add in the fried chicken fillet. stir to mix and dish up