#297 PTEB class of 2007 awarding ceremony

Congratulations to PTEBians of class 2007 who had received their awards today. Special mention to my ex-students: Lim Ren Foo, Zulzawawi, Ak Muhd Amal Nur Qasman, Roxine, Phui Mung, Geok Yin, Alynn @ Nurhafizah, Eliah Azizan, Nurhasyimah, Noryourhanes and Wee Hong. Good Luck on your "Next big step".

CLICK HERE for more pictures

#296 : Dried prawn and fermented durian "sambal" : recipe#195

My late paternal grand mother aka nini Imah was a remarkable cook. Her specialty was sambal making. I am glad that I had the chance to "babysit" her while waiting for my A'level results and did "pick up" some of her skills, if not all. This sambal is my own creation based on what I have learned from her.

Dried prawns are basically made from low-grade prawns, boiled with salt and dried under the sun for days. Fermented Durian aka "Tempoyak" is made from over riped Durian fermented with salt. This "sambal" can be made spicer with the addition of bird-eye chilies.

Ingredients:

A-
1 handful dried prawns-soaked in water
2 tbsp fermented durian @ Tempoyak
2 tbsp dried chili paste
1 Spanish onion-chopped
2 garlics
water-just enough to blend the ingredients

B
sugar
salt to taste
lime juice
oil

steps
1. Heat oil in wok
2. Add blended ingredients, sugar and salt
3. Stir to combine and simmer until the "sambal" thickens ( about 20 minutes)
4. Add in the lime juice, adjust taste and dish up.

#295 Practical session- Block 1 Saturday Afternoon

#294: Tagliatelle with pastrami and sun-dried tomato :recipe#194

Tagliatelle is the classic pasta of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Individually, they are long, flat ribbons, similar in shape to Kway Teow, but typically about 0.65cm to 1cm (0.25 to 0.375 inches) wide. I bought these the other day at Batu Bersurat and totally forgot about it until today. So, its tagliatelle for dinner tonight.

Ingredients
Tagliatelle- for 4 persons: boiled in water seasoned with oil and salt, drained
2 garlics-chopped
20 slices of pastrami-sliced thinly
basil leaves-chopped
4-5 pieces of sun-dried tomato - thinly sliced
3 slices of cheese-sliced thinly
a little milk

seasoning:
salt
white pepper
chicken stock

steps:
1. In a pan, heat a little olive oil and add in chopped garlic. Fry till the garlic is light brown in colour
2. Add in the pastrami, tomatoes and basil leaves, stir to combine and fry for about 2 minutes.
3. Add in the pasta, stir and fry for another minute or so.
4. Add in the milk and seasoning, stir.
5. lastly add in the cheese and dish up

#293 Boy with awesome voice : David Archuleta

#292 Grey's anatomy featured song~ How to save a life

Love this song...

#291 "MAKAN" TIME

We had a small gathering to celebrate Bazilah's birthday. I invited her aunties and uncle for tea today. I cooked Mee Kari Singapura and prepared tidbits such as Salmon Sushi, home-made chicken nuggets , pulut serunding and pizza. I baked her rich chocolate cupcakes, and frost it with mascarpone cheese icing as her birthday cake. The pictures speak.

#290 HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY ....

To My beloved first-born .... Auni Bazilah Zainal. Time really flies. I remembered I was just finished cooking for your dad's "sungkai" when I had blood spotting, and being new parents to be, we went to RIPAS straight away although I had no contractions yet. Your dad slept outside the ward , just in-case you were born that night. You didn't , you were born the next day at 11.43 p.m. instead. That was 27th Ramadhan , 2 days before the Hari Raya 1996.

Happy Birthday darling, from all of us at home :)

#289 Blueberry bars : recipe #172

I am at the moment doing my laundry. While waiting for the wash to be completed, I decided to blog to "de-stress" myself. I have 3 containers of blue berries, so I used some to make these.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
2 tbsp blueberry paste

steps:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius
grease an 8 inch square cake pan.
In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
In a ceramic bowl, melt butter in the microwave oven on high for 1 minute. Add sugar and stir well. Stir in the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.
Add flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until mixed. Stir in the blueberry.
Pour mixture in the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes or when bars appear set (edges will be brown).
Let cool for about 20 minutes, lift from pan and slice into bars of your desired size.

#288 Happy Chinese New Year 2008

To everybody, especially to my colleagues, friends and students.
Wishing you all happiness and success always.

#287 : Portuguese egg tart: recipe #171

I was doing my test papers the other day when my hubby asked me to watch the programme on Macau food. One of the sought after desserts are the tarts. These tarts are different as puff pastry is used instead of the normal short-crust pastry. The burnt looking custard filling is actually the "signature" of these tarts. I have all the ingredients in my kitchen so I made 6 of these. So here we go...

Ingredients:
Puff pastry ( made from scratch or buy ready made from supermarkets)
butter (to brush the muffin pan)

filling:
1/3 cup whip cream
1/3 cup milk
1/3 sugar
4 egg yolks

STEPS:
- roll out the puff pastry, and cut it to your desired size.
- brush the inside of the pans with butter, so the pastry doesn't stick
- to prepare the filling: beat the yolk with sugar, slowly add in the milk and cream mixture.
-pour the filling to the pastry prepared earlier.
-bake at 190C for about 10 minutes or until the custard is set and the pastry is crispy .

#286: Semolina Biscuits : recipe#170

This is one of the recipes from the yesteryears. I was craving for it and here it is:

Ingredients:
2/3 cup ghee
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup semolina
2 and 1/3 cup flour
- extra sugar for sprinkling

steps:
1. cream butter and sugar till fluffy
2. Add in the semolina , stir to combine.
3. Lastly, add in the flour.
4. Take a bit of the mixture and roll it into small balls , place the balls onto a baking tin and flatten their centers by pressing them with a finger.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C till biscuits are crispy.
6. When the biscuits are ready, sprinkle them with more icing sugar. When cooled, keep them in an airtight container.

#284 Apricot dessert : recipe#169

We went to Supa Save Mabohai after canceling my Amah work permit the other day , where we bought some apricots. We ate some of them but had left some for dessert.

450g fresh apricots, pitted and cut into wedges
1/4 cup orange juice
1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar, PLUS
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 cup milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 pinch salt

steps:

Combine apricots and orange juice in a large bowl. Grate 2 teaspoons zest from the lemon and set aside. Juice the lemon and stir 2 teaspoons of the juice into the apricots. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hrs.


Preheat oven to 170C. Coat a 10-inch round baking dish, such as a ceramic quiche dish, or oval casserole with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar evenly over the bottom. Drain apricots (reserving syrup) and arrange in the baking dish.

Combine eggs, egg white and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale yellow. Add milk, flour, almond extract, salt, the reserved lemon zest and the reserved syrup; beat well to blend. Pour the batter over the apricots.

Bake the mixture until puffed and golden, 45 to 55 minutes.

#283 : Son-in Law Eggs: recipe #168

Sorry for the lack of updates, a lot of issues came up lately including children's schooling and the abrupt decision of my maid to retire after 10 yrs of service. So next year we will be amah free and we will have house chores among ourselves. I don't have to worry about the children's roomS because they clean their room everyday although my maid is around. I cook everyday between 3.00 to 5.00 a.m. , so that should be no problem as well. The only thing I hate doing will be ironing... so, lets see...

I tried this recipe the other day , it's so easy. It is similar to my triple 's' eggs. I got this recipe from a book in my kitchen. According to the book,this recipe is "an easy dish for a son-in-law to impress his new mother-in-law"

Ingredients:
6 hard boiled eggs (shelled)

Sauce:
1 large onion thinly sliced
2 fresh red chilies, sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water
2 tsp tamarind pulp
chicken stock to taste

steps:
1. Prick the hardboiled eggs and fry the eggs till golden in colour.
2. Halve the eggs length ways and put on a serving dish.
3. reserve 1 dsp oil in the wok, pour off the rest and heat the oil at high heat.
4. Cook the onion and chilies over a high heat till slightly crisp. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened.
5. Pour the sauce over the eggs and serve immediately.

#282: HUMMING BIRD CUPCAKES :recipe # 167

My junior colleague, Thani borrowed me his brand new Magazine and it is still with me. I tried one of the recipe and here it is.... btw, the cupcakes were superb. Thani, thank you very much, will try some more recipes during the holiday and Bon Voyage... take care!

Ingredients:
dry:
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar - I used 1/4 cup only

wet:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Others:
2 medium sized banana - I used pisang raja
1/2 cup chopped pineapple- since my pineapple is very sour, I first sauteed it in a skillet with a tsp of butter, 1 tbsp of sugar and another 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder.
1/2 cup chopped pecans - I omitted this
Method:
In a large bowl, combine the wet and the dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add in the other ingredients. stir quickly.
Divide between paper cases in muffin pans.
Bake at 160 C until cooked.

#281 : STIR FRIED "LEMIDING": Recipe#166

Lemiding is a kind of fern growing "wildly" along the roadside or in jungles of Brunei. I've seen it being sold in Miri as well. It is similar to paku pakis but the the young shoot of this plant is reddish brown in colour. To an avid "ambuyat" eater, Lemiding is a must accompanying any Ambuyat feast. Although I've eaten several versions of Lemiding dishes, I have to say that the best of them all is always the traditional way of cooking it.... with "belacan" off course. Here's the recipe :)

Ingredients:
2 "ikat" lemiding : remove the midrib , then rinsed.
2 large chillies- sliced
chicken stock powder to taste

pounded ingredients:
5 shallots
2 garlic
1 handful dried prawns: soaked in water
1 thumb-sized shrimp paste/belacan

steps:
-heat oil in wok,
-fry the pounded ingredients till fragrant
-add in the chillies and the "Lemiding"
-add in the chicken stock powder
-stir and cook for further 2-3 minutes and dish up.

*since the leaflets are very soft , try not to overcook them.

#280 salted fish "acar" recipe #165

I think this recipe is of Nyonya origin. I am not sure where I get it from though...
Nice to be eaten with warm rice...:)

Ingredients:
12 salted "rumahan" - heads removed- fried till crispy on the outside

Sambal:
1 tbsp dried chilli paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder- add a tsp water
2 shallots-sliced
1 garlic-sliced
a bit of white vinegar
sugar to taste
4 cm cimnamon stick
1 star annise

Method:
Fry shallots, garlic, cinnamon stick and star annise till fragrant
add in the chilli and turmeric paste. fry till fragrant
add seasoning and vinegar
add fish and mix well till the "sambal coat the fish
Dish up and wa~laa, your fish is ready to be eaten .... *drools*

#279 PTEB's Teachers day celebration

#278 Apple strudel-version 2 recipe#164

I baked another version of Apple Strudel last night.  I like this version better than the other one.  The smoothness of the custard filling and the taste of the sour sweet apple slices, plus the taste of cinnamon , really make my mouth waters even right now.  At  a different note, I think I'll make some more today... as in after this :)

Ingredients:
Puff pastry

filling:
custard filling ~ you need only 1/8 of the recipe
1 green apple- sliced thinly
butter
cinnamon-to your liking
salt-a pinch
lemon juice - 1/2 tablespoon
sugar- to your liking

making the filling:
heat a skillet and put in the butter
add in the apples, cinnamon, salt , lemon juice and sugar
when filling is 1/2 cooked, dish up.

Assembling the strudel:
If you use the frozen puff pstry, thaw it first
place the apples filling on the pastry, followed by the custard
sealed the puff pastry
baked in 200 C oven until the pastry is golden brown.

#277 Easy Apple strudel- Version 1 recipe #163

I have been trying to make this for sometime. I browsed the net(click here) and found this recipe. My hubby love the strudel however, I found it a bit sweet for my taste. I will try to make the custard version of the apple strudel, which explained the "version 1 " on the title of the post. I , however add cinnamon and lemon juice to my strudel. I definitely will make this again, but I would reduce the amount of sugar recommended by the recipe.