Thursday, 29 May 2014

PRAWN SAMBAL WITH PETAI

Do you love petai? Petai.. "stink beans"... is best when  cooked with chilies and prawn,which we called it 'Sambal Udang Petai'. Be sure to brush your teeth after eating this dish!! Don't ever take this dish if you are dating your girlfriend or boyfriend hahahaha.

PRAWN SAMBAL WITH PETAI













Ingredients

1 kg prawns














300 g petai














15 dried chilies
10 shallots
1 thumb size ginger
1 small cubes belachan
4 lemon grass
5 tbsp tamarind juice
salt and sugar to taste
4 tbsp oil

Method

1.Shell and wash prawn. Wash petai, check for worms.
2.Blend chilies, shallot, ginger,lemon grass and belachan into a paste.
3.Heat up oil in a wok.
4.Put in the blended spices.Saute until oil surface.
5.Put in petai and prawn.
6.Put in tamarind juice, add sugar and salt to taste.
7.Stir fry until prawn is cooked.
8.Dish up. Serve with hot white rice.

Note: If you don't have tamarind juice, substitute with tomatoes. I used 4 tomatoes for this. Remove the skin
         and blend.







ENJOY AND HAVE A NICE DAY









Wednesday, 28 May 2014

KAYA (COCONUT EGG CUSTARD)

A friend has given me some alkaline dumplings, as alkaline dumpling is tasteless so I decided to make Kaya (coconut eggs custard/jam) to go with it.
There are many ways to make Kaya. Some steam it for hours, some double boil it. I always choose the quickest method. I  cooked it over direct fire which took me about 30 minutes only.
Only three ingredients are needed for this, sugar, eggs,coconut milk in the proportion of 2:1:1.
Normally I use bowl to measure the ingredients but today i have converted the measurements into metric.
Trust me it is very easy to make this. Just mix the ingredients together and stir over slow fire.

KAYA (COCONUT EGG CUSTARD)














 Ingredients

200 g sugar
3 large eggs (grade A)
150 ml  thick coconut milk
2 tbsp sugar for the caramel
150 ml water for caramel
3 pandan leaves

Method

1. Put 200 g of sugar in a bowl.













2. Crack 3 eggs .













3. Measure 150 ml of coconut milk.













4. Mix the three ingredients and give it a good stir until the sugar has dissolved.













5. Sieve the mixture into a cooking pot, if you want ( I didn't sieve it because i want to do it fast as he is         waiting for my kaya to be eaten with the dumplings) 
Put in pandan leaves.


6. Stir the mixture over slow fire until it boils.


Looks pale!
Dont worry!
Will add in colour.. natural colour from the caramel









7. While stirring the mixture, make the caramel solution. Put 2 tablespoons of sugar in a pan. Cook it until it 
    caramelized.  















8. At this point pour in 150 ml of water to make a solution.
9. Pour this solution into the egg custard.

10. Keep on stirring until you get a nice aroma.

11. Transfer custard into jar



                                                    Happy trying!


Saturday, 24 May 2014

PENANG ASAM LAKSA (NOODLES IN SPICY - SOUR FISH BROTH)

Penang asam laksa was voted seven out of 50 most delicious food in the world.(by CNN back in 2011).
This dish is my family's all time favorite. Here is the way how I made this dish. Actually this dish is easy to make except that it is a bit time consuming to separate the  fish flesh from the bone.

PENANG ASAM LAKSA














Ingredients

1 1/2 kg of fish (mackerel)
2.5 L of water
1 bunch of polygonum leaves
10 pieces of tamarind peel
salt and sugar to taste
2 packets of Laksa noodles

Spices blended into paste

20 dries chilies, soak to soften
15 shallots
3 lemon grass
3 small cubes of  dried prawn paste (belacan)

Garnishing
2 cucumbers
2 big onions
3 stalks of salad vegetables
3 ginger flower
  bunch of mint
4 hard -boiled eggs
prawm paste 

Methods

1. Gut and  clean the fish thoroughly.
2. Boil 1.5 liters of water in a pot. Put in the fish. Boil for ten minutes










Let the fish sit in that hot bath for 10 minutes.



3. While waiting for the fish to be cooked, blend the spices.


4. When the fish is ready dish out,let cool and debone the fish.. Do not throw away the fish stock.


5. Put in polygonum and tamarind peels in to the fish stock let it simmer while deboning the fish.


6. Blend the fish bones with the remaining water. Strain.
7. Discard the polygonum leaves and the tamarind peels from the stock.
8. Put in the blended spices and water from No 6.
9. Boil the stock. season to taste.
10. Prepare the garnishing ingredients.




11. Cook the laksa noodles in boiling water. Drain.
12. Assemble the laksa.Swirl a handful of laksa noodles into a bowl. Ladle the fish broth over the noodles.
      Garnish with sliced onions, cucumber, ginger flowers and salad and of course the prawn paste which will 
      give the noodle that oomph! Enjoy!









Enjoy  eating 
 Enjoy your life!






Saturday, 3 May 2014

SALTED FISH BONE CURRY(KIAM HU KUT GULAI)

Another Nyonya creation! This is a tasty dish. Its saltiness comes from the salted fish bone, it is sweet, sour all in one. This dish reminds me of my late mother. Her Kiam Hu Kut gulai was uniquely delicious. I used to help her in the kitchen, so i picked up the skill of cooking. from her.

SALTED FISH BONE CURRY
















The main players in this dish are salted fish bone, pineapple,long beans, aubergine and cabbage.






and of course not forgetting chillies, lemon grass, galanggal, ginger, onions, garlic to be blended to make into curry paste.


Ingredients

300 g salted fish bone, washed, soaked and drained
oil for frying

A (pounded or blended)

10 dried chillies
5 fresh red chillies
10 shallots, remove skin
6 pips garlic, remove skin
3 stalks lemon grass
1 small ginger
1 small piece galangal/lengkuas

B (mixed )
2 tbsp  fish curry powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1000 ml water

C
200 g long bean, cut into 4 cm length
2 aubergine/brinjal/eggplant, cut into chunk
1 pineapple, cut into bite-size pieces

SEASONINGS
 2 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
100 ml thick coconut milk

METHOD:

1. Heat up 5 tbsp of oil and fry salted fish bone until fragrant. Dish up and drain.
2. In the remaining oil saute A until fragrant. Add in B and continue to fry until aromatic.
   
3. Add in 1000 ml of water and bring to a boil.
4. Add in C(all the vegetables) and salted fish bones, simmer until the vegetables are soft.
5. Add in seasonings and coconut milk.
6. Taste. Dish up and serve with hot rice.



    Try this. I guarantee it wont disappoint you!







Friday, 2 May 2014

KAPITAN CHICKEN

Hi, i am back.
Today i am going to share a nyonya curry recipe. In Nyonya cooking chilies ,lemon grass, galangal, shallots, belachan  are normally pounded or blended. Aromatic leaves such as kaffir lime leaves and tumeric leaves are added to give the dish a wonderful 'Nyonya zest' in it. Nyonya cooking involved  long hour of marinating the meat or seafood. This makes nyonya food flavourful.

KAPITAN CHICKEN



















INGREDIENTS

A
1 Whole chicken, cut into pieces

B
500ml water
2 stalk lemon grass
8 piece kaffir lime leaves
5 tbsp oil

SPICES(blended)
20 shallots,peeled
1 bulb garlic, peeled
3 stalk lemon grass
10 dried chillies
6 red fresh chillies

SEASONING
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp light siya sauce
1 tsp belacan
100ml thick coconut milk

METHOD

1.Marinate chicken with  lime juice(from 1 lime) and 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce overnight in the fridge.
2. Put ingredients B in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Heat up oil and saute spices until fragrant.Add in chicken pieces and stir-fry until aromatic.
4. Add in cooked B, seasoning and cook until sauce has thicken and chicken is cooked.
5. Lastly pour in coconut milk and cook till gravy is thick.
6. Dish up. Serve with steamed white rice.