#314: Dinner with left-over chicken

I usually "recycle" my left-over chicken. I cooked a large amount in the morning and keep some for dinner. Sometimes , the chicken became part of noodles, nasi goreng or sandwiches. But, this one is always my favourite.

I had cooked butter chicken Indian style the other day, where bite-size boneless chicken pieces were cooked with tomatoes, coriander and spices. So, in the evening, to the left over chicken, I added sauteed diced capsicum and thinly sliced onion. To the mixture I added burrito seasoning. I then transferred the mixture and cheddar cheese onto tortillas and this became the filling. I rolled the tortillas, baked them for about 10 minutes and there you are , a sumptuous dinner...

#313 Green mango Salad: recipe#205

My Hubby loves to eat raw green Mango. He usually eat them with "cacah belacan"~ shrimp paste with chili and soy sauce. On Saturday last week, I bought a kilo of these for him thinking that the course in Penang was cancelled. Some how at 6.00 p.m. that Saturday he received a call to collect his tickets at the ministry. Some of the mangoes are still in my fruit compartment in the fridge, so today I decided to make green mango salad. I ate this alone because my kids do not like the taste of raw mango. At times like this, how I wish my hubby is here to enjoy the salad with me.

At a different note, Raw green mango salad is of Indo-china origin @ Thailand or Vietnamese. It's a very simple recipe....and since the mango are in season do try this at home.

Ingredients: serves 1
-1 raw green mango- Peel mangoes, then cut away chunks of fruit from pits then, cut into thin strips. I "chancang" the mango in my hand :)
- 1/2 carrot-grated
- 1 sprig-coriander leaves-chopped
- 1 shallot-sliced
- 1 garlic-chopped
- 1 medium fresh chili-sliced~ you might want to add Thai bird's eye chili for extra zing
- spring onion -sliced

seasoning:
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Fish sauce
- brown sugar


Steps:
-Place carrot, mango, coriander, spring onion, garlic, fresh chili and shallots into a large bowl.
- Add the seasoning 5-10 minutes before serving.

note: you can also sprinkle chopped toasted peanut on your salad

#312: Banana Puff : recipe#204

Darwish loves banana, so I decided instead to making banana muffins for him, I'll make some banana puffs instead since I have some puff pastry in my fridge. This is a very simple recipe, a matter of assembling the ingredients. A recipe that you can try with your children in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
Puff pastry

filling:
Banana-sliced
Damerera sugar
cinnamon powder
dessicated coconut

Steps:
-cut your pastry to the intended shape and size.
-arrange the banana slices on top of each pastry slices
-sprinkle sugar, cinnamon and dessicated coconut on top of the banana
-seal the pastry, and prick on top of the pastry with fork to release steam accumulated during baking.
-Bake at 220 C until the pastry turns golden brown ~ about 8-10 minutes.

#311 : Dadah Tahai : recipe #203

Tahai is a dried, previously smoked White Tamban or sardines. This dish is a traditional Bruneian dish which usually accompany Ambuyat feasts. I bought a large packet of Tahai which skins were already removed, so I used some to make this. Most of the left-over Tahai were used to make "sambal Tahai". I usually cooked this dish because of the soup. We don't usually ate the fish, we gave it to our cat instead.

Ingredients:
5-10 Tahai-skin removed
1 garlic - sliced
3 shallots - sliced
1 fresh chili- sliced
lemon grass
5- 10 dried asam -preferably asam aur-aur, if you use asam keping use 1-2 pcs only.
salt to taste
water

Steps:
Add all ingredients in a pot and boil them.
once boiled, simmer for another 5 minutes
adjust seasoning and serve warm

#310 Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil : recipe #202

Italian bruschetta (pronounced "brusketta") is one of the easiest appetizer recipe that you can prepare. I had this for dinner last night while the kids are eating garlic-cheese bread as their supper. You can also go to Thani's blog to see his version of Bruschetta.

makes 4 slices:

• 3 ripe plum tomatoes : parboiled, skins removed and chopped,
  
• 1 clove garlic- to be rubbed onto the bread slices
  
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar~ I used raspberry flavoured
  
• Basil leaves, fresh is better, but I used dry because I don't have fresh ones.
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread

1 Preheat oven to 225 degrees celsius

2 In a bowl, put tomatoes, vinegar, basil , salt and ground black pepper,

3 Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Rub garlic to one side of the bread slice. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.

Alternatively, you can toast the bread without coating it in olive oil first. Toast on a griddle for 1 minute on each side. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times. Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta.

4 To serve: Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.

Verdict: I love "sour" food, so I definitely will make this again.

#309 Asian style grilled Salmon: recipe #201

I bought frozen salmon slices from BMC shop last Friday, and managed to prepare this for Saturday lunch a day before hubby went off to Penang. It was very easy to prepare. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients;
3 medium size salmon slices
olive oil for grilling and basting

marinade:
1/2 tsp Thailand green curry paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp dry basil leaves
1 tsp Thailand sweet chili sauce
1 sprig coriander- make into paste
2 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
olive oil for grilling and basting.

steps:
1. Combine salmon with the marinade and keep aside for at least half an hour or overnight in the fridge.
2. Place Salmon slices in a baking pan/grill pan greased with olive oil.
3. Grill salmon until both sides are browned.
4. Dish up and serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

#309 : MEIOSIS ANIMATION

I am now starting to teach Core O . One of the earliest sub-topics is meiosis. Actually I promised my students that I would try to find a good animation for the process. Reading from textbook tend to be boring because this is a process which occurs at a cellular level and is very abstract. So to my students, pleas watch, understand and enjoy. Btw, I still haven't received my final time-table yet, so wait and see....

p/s : To hubby, I miss you very much