#101: Meat with Bamboo: recipe #76

This is an easy, fast stir-fry dishes. It brings out the beef and bamboo shoots flavor very nicely. you can substitute the bamboo with other veggies of your choice. here's the recipe

Ingredients:
1. 0.5 kg sliced beef
2. 2 garlic, chopped
3. 2 tbsp young ginger, sliced thinly
4. 1 tsp 5 spice powder
5. 1 onion, cut into wedges
6. 1 red chili
7. 1 tsp white pepper
8. preserved bamboo shoots- sliced, about 1 handful
9. sauces: dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce and sashimi soy sauce
10. Sushi vinegar
11. sugar ( optional)

steps:
1. marinade beef with spicy bean paste and 5 spice powder for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat oil in pan, add garlic and fry till fragrant.
3. add in the marinated meat and fry further till beef is tender. If gravy becomes too dry, add in a little water and continue cooking.
4. When beef is tender, add in the sliced bamboo shoots
5. Add in the sahshimi soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sushi vinegar.
6. Add in the chicken stock powder, white pepper and sugar.
7. Lastly, add in the sliced chili, onion and ginger.
8. adjust seasoning and dish up.

#100: Sour fish soup: recipe #75

I love eating fish. For me, my favourite is always "lauk rabus" (see recipe post #6 ). This recipe is the Vietnam's/ Thailand version of "lauk rabus". Try it...

Ingredients:
3 sliced mackerel ( Tenggiri)
1 lemon grass
3 shallots
2 garlic
1 garlic-sized ginger
1 red chili- sliced
2 coriander roots
more coriander leaves for garnishing
3 sweet basil leaves
Tamarind juice ( 2 tbsp tamarind + o.5 lit of water, mix, strained and pulp discarded)
2 dsp Thai fish sauce
1 dsp chicken stock powder
1 tomato, cut into wedges

steps:
In a pot, preferably clay plot, add all ingredients except tomato and simmer until the soup boils.
add tomato wedges, Adjust seasoning and dish up. Garnish with more coriander

#99: Quick Beef rendang: recipe#74

In the morning, on school days I usually wake up before 5.00 a.m, truthfully, my body really feel tired, but then I remember that I need to fix breakfast and lunch for the family especially the kids. The type of dish that I usually cook will be the ones with less hassle and this is one examples of those dishes ..

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo beef, preferably tenderloin or topside-sliced

blended ingredients:
3 fresh chilies
1tsp turmeric powder
10 shallots
5 garlic
1 tbsp chopped ginger.

others:
1 lemon grass
chicken stock powder
juice from 1 lime
sugar
1tsp soy sauce
2 dsp "kerisik"/coconut paste ( I didn't use coconut milk)
enough water to soften the beef
oil-2 tdsp
1 dsp sliced torch ginger flower ( bunga kantan)- now available in dry form.

steps:
1. combine beef, blended ingredients, lemon grass, torch ginger and oil in a pot.
2. cook the mixture at high flame, until the juice from the beef came out, then reduce flame to medium, and simmer the mixture. Occasionally, stir the beef and if the gravy become too reduced, add in water.
3. Simmer till the beef become tender.
4. When the beef become tender, add the rest of the ingredients and let the mixture boils for about 5 minutes.
5. Adjust seasonings and the thickness of the gravy. If the gravy became too thick, add a little water.

ENJOY ....

#98 Quick Egg plant fried sambal : recipe #73

This recipe is one of the oldest recipes I ever known. I have eaten it since I was 5 -6 yrs old and that was....mmmm 32 years ago. I believe, this dish had existed before then. The traditional way of doing this is by using dried chili paste and everthing have to be prepared from scratch. In the morning, cooking from scratch will not be a good idea for me, so I used short cut to save time, and the result? just as nice... enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 large egg plant- cut length-wise, deep-fried.

sauce:
A- blended ingredients:
1 handful dried prawns, washed
5 shallots
3 garlic

B-others
3 tbsp Maggi garlic chili sauce-add more if necessary
chicken stock powder
sugar

steps:
1. heat oil in wok, add in the blended ingredients (A)
2. Add in the chili sauce, fry till fragrant and oil emerged to the surface
3. season with chicken stock powder and sugar, dish up.

#97 Black pepper prawn : recipe #72

I cooked this dish sometime ago. The usual dish I cooked with black pepper is the black pepper beef, so this was actually an experiment which turned out to be unexpectedly nice.

Ingredients :
about 20 medium prawns, shelled deveined, tail intact
salt
pepper
ginger- sliced
garlic- sliced
1/2 large onion sliced
green chili and red chili- julienned

seasoning:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp black pepper sauce
1/2 chicken stock powder
corn flour slurry

steps;
1. marinade prawn in a ceramic bowl with salt and pepper for at least 15 minutes.
2. grilled or fry the prawn till cooked, keep aside.
3. In a wok, add oil, when oil is hot, add in the onion, garlic and ginger. cook till fragrant
4. Add in the oyster sauce, balck pepper sauce and chicken stock powder. simmer
5. add in the sliced chili and the prawn.
6. add in the corn flour slurry and adjust seasoning. dish up.

#96 Tempe sambal with baby clam: recipe#71

I first ate Tempe in 1975, that was when my late mom bought it from her Malaysian Collegue. Those years, tempe was a very rare commodity, however nowadays, you can buy it in supermarket for B$1 each or at Pasar borong , 5 for B$2. During one of the tahlil night I made this "sambal", which yield about 6 plates of sambal tempe.

yields: 6 plates of Sambal Tempe
Ingredients:
10 packets Tempe- cut into small pieces, deep fried
1 bunch long beans - cut to 2 cm slices
5 sweet potatoes- diced, deep fried
4 large cans baby clam ( red and white can)
1 handful cashew nuts- roasted

A- blended together
2 cups dried chilli paste
1 handful shallots
1/2 handful garlic
1/4 cup chopped ginger

B- others
tamarind juice
salt
chicken stock powder
1 tbsp Maggi Belacan powder
sugar ( optional)
fried shallots
1 can coconut milk

steps:
1. heat oil in wok
2. add in A- the blended chili, fry till fragrant
3. add in the long beans, fry till half cooked.
4. add in B- simmer
5. add in tempe, sweet potato and clam, stir well. If the "sambal" is too dry , ADD IN SOME NON-SWEET CHILLI SAUCE.
6. adjust seasoning and dish up.
7. to serve: sprinkle with sliced spring onions and more fried shallots

#94 : The "makan-makan"

THE FOOD.......



THE COMPANY....

Last Sunday, I felt like to eat "Mee Kari" and My Hubby "tais liur" Tiramisu. So, I called My siblings over to eat with us. I prepared the Tiramisu early in the morning and keep it in the fridge, then only I prepared the Mee Kari's gravy and the condiments. Auni's Bday is coming up... she already has a long list of dishes she wants me to cook for her big day... including her b'day cake !!!

#93: MEATLESS VEGIES NOODLE: recipe #69

Welcome back to my humble blog. As promised , It's blogging time again. Thanks for all the support I received . Truthfully, I was drained emotionally and physically. My maid is back again, my back pain is 95% gone , what more could I ask? Alhamdullilah.
My schedule is very hectic at the moment. I have tight teaching schedule, I am in-charge of allowance this year and this week the school is very busy with the new form six admission. I do find that teaching nowadays is more demanding than when I first started 14 years ago.
The Myth " Teachers work half day" need to be removed from the mind of our society. Teachers nowadays have a lot of other side jobs and we do work till late afternoon or even till night time. We work Fridays and Sundays too! . We bring work home and have to work until late at night to early mornings. The bright side of being a teacher is that I see a lot of young faces every school days. For me, I love working with young people and I try my very best to bring the best out of them.
BTW, here is a very simple, easy peasy recipe especially meant for vegies lovers~
Ingredients:
300g yellow noodles
1 handful snow peas
3 stalks mustard greens- cut into small pieces
1 handful pickled bamboo shoots
1 egg- beaten
1 red chili-julienned
1 green chili-julienned
2 garlic-sliced
1 dsp chopped ginger
1/2 spanish onion-sliced
seasoning:
Oyster sauce
Spicy soya sauce
Sweet soya sauce

Step:
1. Heat oil in wok, fry in the egg, when cooked, set aside
2. Adjust flame to high, Add a little oil into the wok, fry in the onion, ginger and garlic, fry till fragrant.
3. add all the vegies and seasoning.
4. add in the noodles and taste the noodle , adjust seasoning according to your taste.

#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 :)