WatRuCooking2dayB

My Kind Of Comfort Food 2 - Home made Cheesy Nachos & Salsa

2009-08-11T22:43:00.003+08:00

Before I left Blackrock, Dublin.... I had to comfort myself with some fav snack...non ather than cheesy nachos...and salsa.

For Nora.

2009-07-07T21:06:00.003+08:00

Nora, thanks for the idea, i made nasi tomato last Friday, to go with Ayam Masak Merah and lefrover Dalcha.

Look at that happy customer!

Crepes Weekend- updated.

2009-06-30T23:04:00.004+08:00

Had a crepe weekend.. both Tish and my Dh loves this snack so much. I didnt manage to snap more photos. A satisfying crepe session. Tish enjoyed spread her own Nutella and butter and pilling strawberry on it... so as her daddy.

I had mine with Nutella & banana! yumssssss...

The Crepe's Batter :

4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 ¼ milk half = water : milk
¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter

-Whizz it all in a blender, rest the batter in fridge of couple of hours.*
-Heat a non stick a frying in medium heat, spray with some vegetable spray and wipe off excess.
-Pour in about ** 1 laddle of the batter, twirl the pan to make sure the batter coat evenly the bottom of the pan.

twirl

-Allow to cook for a minute, flip over and allow 10 seconds for the other side to brown a little...

flipped crepe

Viola. Ready ... just add your favorite filling.

*I did mine a night before and keep it in fridge enough for our breakfast the nest day and coffee later that afternoon.
** I used heavy bottom non stick 10" frying pan.

Makan2 Dar Es Salam, Tanzania.

2009-06-24T23:25:00.007+08:00

Nasi Lemak & Ayam Masala @ Nora's, yummy ...even our Japanese friend loves it.. Cayalah Nora.

Impromptu Curry Puff day @ Nora's... And Nora.. The Master Of Karipap! I did the dough and filling they Nora & Chin,..assemble it-the part I hated most when making this yummy snack. Btw, Thanks Nora, for 'teaching' me the 'correct' way of doing it! Cool!

Our friend Chin, trying her hands at seaming the dough!

Yums Yums! All gone in seconds!

Warm Beef Salad @ Karembezi , Sea Cliff Hotel.

Al Basha's Mix Grills

The Salsa was good!

Freshly Squeezed Juices, Passion Fruit & Orange... Similiar to Egyptian ashir.

Chicken 'Something' (hehehe, I forgot the name) @ SPUR, Sea Cliff Mall.

Marry Brown, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania

2009-06-23T23:47:00.007+08:00

Marry Brown
Msasani Peninsular
Dar Es Salam
Halal Certified.

If we are not eating at Thai Village, we'll be eating here.A fast food restaurants but they serve Nasi Lemak & Sambal (the most essential dish in almost every Malaysian list of comfort food when they are abroad, I guess), Nasi Goreng & Satay apart from their fried chicken. Service was good..we totally felt at home.

It comes with a playground for kids... So its a family restaurants I should says and that is nice, since most of the hotel around Dar are not very kids friendly..no kids pool..no playground, this is the only place Tisha loves . Marry Brown is the place where u go for snack & chat with friends while kids are having fun at the playground.

Our friends in Dar introduce us to the Malaysian owner..and we became friends instantly, thanks for the hospitality Mr & Mrs Owner... I'm so dying to mention their names, but I think I should respect their privacy!

Tisha's Fav... Prawn Fritters& Chips.

These 2 Malaysian girls are there for a new branch opening..

Our Favorite Coconut Bun..look at the amount of filling, should I say more??

Marry Brown here in Dar comes with a Bakery called The Loaf. If you are lucky you could get a freshly baked Red Bean & Coconut Bun... The did it from scratch..the filling & bread of course...I heard there's also a Kaya Bun... but I wasnt lucky enough or i didnt stay long enough in Dar to savour it.

You'll get free coffee for your breakfast to-go at The Loaf.

I ddint get to snapped many photos though. But I should say...for Malaysian this is the place for you, when u misses Malaysian food.

the playground

There's also a Malaysian restaurant called Istana owned by The Marry Brown's Owner too. We had scrumptous roti canai & dhal, biryani & curries and many other yummy food..and I didnt snapped any photos since Tisha was having a fever that night. Thanks again Mr & Mrs Owners.
Will add on more info on that soon. till then.

17 May 09- Thai Village Restaurant, Dar Es Salam, Tanzania

2009-06-22T21:40:00.007+08:00

A music bar and restaurant with a driving range. Live band performing on Sundays from 6 pm onwards, with 5000 shillings entrance fee person. But you could just tell them, that u just wanna have dinner, the have a designated area for 'just dinner' patron on Sunday.

Tisha and her favourite dish Tom Yam Seafood

To die for - Crab Fried Rice

Extra gravy for Pla Sam Rod, we dipped everything in it

Our special order,not on the menu - 3 Flavours Fish / Pla Sam Rod

Prawn Spring RollsMango Salad

Located on Chole Road, Msasani Peninsular.
Open from 12 noon to Midnight.
Closed on Mondays.
Delivery Available.

Food and services was great. The Chefs are Thai, so they serve a very authentic dishes... you can ask them to prepare a real Thai flavour, which is very very spicy or a toned down Tanzanian version, so it is all up to you. And we even ask for a dishes which was not on the menu, but you have to know the dish name in Thai since the Chef speaks very little english. They use the freshest seafood. I just have one complaint though, i dont like their Mango Salad, since they use the ripe mango so the sweetness of the mango over write all the other flovours...I still prefer the young mango salad. And If I have more time, I might ask the Chef to prepare some Thai desserts for me...I'm thinking of Ruam Mit or Ka Ti or Tam Tim Krop maybe...instead of the ever boring, so much overrated mango & sticky rice.

As far as I remember during our 6 weeks stay, we eat there almost every weekends - lunch and dinner, Saturdays & Sundays. And few times of takeaway during the weekdays... That's how much we love the food.

ICCI Mosque & Olive Garden Cafe - 2 May 09

2009-06-22T20:53:00.006+08:00

We finally managed to get to ICCI -Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland . Thanks to Mr. Zul, who showed us the way..it just like 10 mins drive from our flat. I really didnt know it was that close.

For further info, here's the address and site

Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI)
19 Roebuck Road
Clonskeagh
Dublin 14
Phone: +353(0)1 2080000
Fax: +353(0)1 2080001

It's quite a huge mosque with a Halal Olive Garden Cafe and Halal Store & Butchery, Islamic School, Quran Lesson on weekends, and a Gym, alternate day for men & women.
,The food was okay, it was a cold, since we're there for lunch at 4 pm that day, so I dont blame them. The services and the rest was good.

Tish had nuggets & chips.

My Biryani & Chicken Jalfrezi

My DH Biryani & Lamb Curry.

Btw, the are 2 mosques in Dublin, the other one is on the South Circular Road. Will check it out soon, insyaallah.

Backdated : DH Home From Jo'burg. - 26 April 09

2009-06-21T20:04:00.005+08:00

Daddy's girl!..hey I want a hug too.....

Maria's Famous Manhattan Cheesecake

Tried out Maria's Manhattan Cheesecake! My DH & Tish favourite... so to welcome DH home...I made this for him. Wanted to do the raspberry topping, suddenly realize my raspberries was missing from my kitchen top...
Next things I know, Tisha eating those berries while watching her fav cartoon!

caught in the act... ;-P

Shilme's Fried Chicken

2009-04-23T19:40:00.004+08:00

Was 'skype-ing' with my dh the other day, he was saying about halal KFC in Jo'burg, and remember talking to a friend in Germany she had a halal KFC there too. I hope they'll have one halal KFC in Dublin too.. How nice. So i was like blog hopping this few days for the 'right' fried chicken recipes...and I like this one the most Jeni Fried Chicken . I've been following her blog for quiet a while. And to me her recipes are more 'make sense' kinda cooking, nothing fancy or 'showy' , just whatever your daily cooking is all about! She actually the founder of Resipi.net.

As for my fried chicken i added a few more spices, which will go like these :

4 pieces chicken (i used drumsticks & wings)
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp coriandep powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 small eggs beaten
Enough fresh milk to cover the chicken
Salt to taste
Corn flour & plain flour - whisk together.
Enough vegetable oil to deep fried

- Marinate the chicken with all the spices, milk ,egg & salt. I did for 2 hours. Where Jeni did overnite.
- Heat oil to medium heat.
-Coat chicken pieces with flour deep fried in medium heat till brown or cook through.
-Drain on wire rack then paper towel before serve.

* I like mine spicy. Adjust the amount of spices to your tastebud.

I should say, maybe the milk did wonder... I love it...so yummy and I manage to have 1 wing , my Tisha finished the rest. Anyway Jeni thanks for the recipe.

My Kind Of Comfort Food - Gnocchi

2009-04-23T19:08:00.002+08:00

21 April 09,

Found a fresh packet of Gnocchi in Tesco, so I had it a go. Nothing fancy, i just sauteed garlic & onion..in butter. Add Gnocchi, off the fire, add about a tablespoon of garlic & herbs philly creamcheese, some pepper to taste.Garnish with chopped parsely & parmesan.

Tish loves it!

Cheese Brownies

2009-04-18T21:36:00.003+08:00

I think Tish has a craving too... In a day she could for so many different cakes... 'Mommy I want cheesecake" couple of hours later "Mommy we chocolate cake in fridge?! then "I want cupcake! I want cupcake!

I think she's bored, its been raining all day long for the last few days, no park, no playground, only TV, toys & Mommy.

So i decided to bake with her... found this Marble Cheese Brownie recipe but halved the batch and bake in bun pan instead... so Tish could have it all, chocolate, cheese & cupcake!

Missing, Craving...and Arrrggghhh Karipap (Curry Puff)

2009-04-16T21:16:00.011+08:00

A few days ago.......

Missing my DH soo much and leads to a severe craving! I'm sooo wanted some Karipap (Curry Puff) right now, this instance!! It was cold and raining outside...."what about some crepe instead?"said my DH on skype "Crepe over a karipap?? No no way!" after a few seconds.. "Well, not today, at least!" ;-).

Ok, Thinking that I have all the ingredients...lets get going, I told myself, what so hard about karipap making, right? Wrong! Wrong! I'm sooo wrong!!!!

potato & carrot cubes

The stuffing first:

1 tbs ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
250 g minch beef
3 large potato - peeled, cut into small cubes
1 large carrot - peeled, cut into small cubes (optional)
1 large onion - chopped
1 tbsp of chopped spring onion
1 tbsp of chopped chinese flat leaves parsely
Salt & peper to taste
2 tbsp Vegetable oil

-Heat oil, sauteed ginger & garlic paste till brown, then add beef followed by coriander and garam masala powder.
-Add the cubes potato and carrot, add some water, cook till the potatoes and carrots are tender and till fairly dry. Season with Salt and pepper.
-Throw in chopped herbs and onion. Off the fire. Cooled.

the minch beef bubbling away

The decided to try out, a new recipe for the skin/pastry: I dont remember which site I got this recipe from but here it goes :

flour & margerine

2 cup of all purpose flour
2 heaped tbsp of margerine
1/2 tsp salt
Enough cold icy water.

- Put flour in a mixing bowl add salt, stir to combine
- Add in margerine, rub to resembles a fine breadcrumbs.
-Add water, just enough till it all clump and not sticky.
-Knead a little. Ready to use..

Now....to assemble those......there come the problems.... after my pastry is ready to be rolled I realized that I dont have a rolling pin and I dont even have the karipap mould! oh dear! Oh dear! oh dear! Okay, Relax... I could find some bottle or something to roll...haaah Malaysia Boleh!!!! thank to the ketchup bottle.

the mighty ketchup bottle that saved my day

And as for the absent mould...okay! okay! such a lousy excuse...i know I should have try to do the seams by my bare hands a long long time ago...hmmmm after a few attemps ... I opt for these shapes:

But sadly, the problem just not end there.... When all the horrendous looking puff are ready to be fried, I realise i have less than a quarter of 1 liter bottle of vegetables oil !!! Its needs to be deep fried!! Arrrgghh! Karipap...why are you doing this to me???????????

Hmmm , i just pour the oil in the tiniest sauce pan i have ! And fry that karipap away!!

the end result...horrendous looking curry puff

thanks to this happy customer!

And I should say, the new pastry that i tried is kinda nice.... and a after a few karipap later.... I think I'm ready for a crepe again...!

P/S: My dear DH, I froze some for you! Dont worry!

Banana Cake & Almost Vegetarian Stir Fried Glass Noodles

2009-04-15T19:38:00.002+08:00

Make this banana bread just to send over to my neighbor, she sent over some cookies for Tish the other day, in return this banana bread goes to her.
Made this stir fry for lunch. Called it almost vegetarian since I added some chicken stock.
Stir Fried Glass Noodles

1 small pack of glass noodles - soaked in water for 20 mins, drained.
2 cloves garlic - crushed
5 bird eyes chillies - or less.
1 bunch bok choi - cut into 2 cm, separate leaves and stems
1 carrot - julienned
A handful of shredded cabbage
A handful of sliced fresh button mushroom
Half a cube of chicken stock
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp of cooking oil

- a heat a wok till smoky, put in oil and throw in garlic.
-add chillies and bok choi stem, stir for a minute
-add carrot and cabbage, stir then add mushroom.
-add chicken stock, if too dry add about 2 tbsp of water.
- throw in the noodles, follows with bok choi leaves. Season with salt & pepper.
-stir fry for further 2 minutes. (if the noodles still firm add some more water)
-done.

Serve with a wedge of lime, fried shallot and chopped spring onion.

* u could add in chicken breast or beef for extra flavour. And it works well with almost any asian stir fry vegs. I wish I had bean sprout!

I'm Back!

2009-04-10T01:23:00.006+08:00

Finally, after saying goodbye to Cairo, 3 months of holidaying in Malaysia and a month moved to Dublin, The Adams are back!

Got a call from Nurul on Wednesday last week, saying that she and Isha wanna stay over for the weekend, and its Isha's Birthday falls on that Saturday, so Nurul ask me to bake just any cake to surprise Isha before the real party on Monday. Well I dont have any 'tools' for a cake yet, my mixer, baking pan etc, all still in Malaysia waiting to be delivered soon. What I can think of was only banana or carrot cake. She said any cake will do.

Well I baked carrot cake, thinking it wont go wrong with Cream Cheese Frosting. And thank God, Carrot Cake is the Birthday Girl all time favourite. And they dug out the frosting first...before get to the cake....lol.

the ingredients

fresh from the oven

Personally I like this cake too, its 'light but moist enough to my liking. It just that next time I'll bake in smaller pan....I like a thick cake! I got this recipe from Group Recipes . Its called Carrot Cake For Those Who Hate Carrot Cake.

1 cup sugar (I used frimly packed brown sugar)

1/2 cup canola oil ( I used corn oil)

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups fresh grated carrots

1 cup unsifted all purpose flour (I used Odlum's Cream Plain Flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup ground or grated coconut (I omitted this)

* I bake at 140 degree C with Fan Forced Oven at about 25 mins.*

And my recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting.

1 tub Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk all together. Done.

TAGGED..yes, again!

2008-11-01T01:49:00.002+08:00

Do you ever cheat during examination ?
- Honestly yeah, not exam though but during a pop quiz :p

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?
- Be rich and famous...in Hollywood of course!

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
- Egyptian driver named Moustafa who we just fired.... i'll kick real hard till he constipated!

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
- Gimme a billion first then I'll tell ya!

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
- No way! Haven't u heard of platonic, it really exist you know?

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
- Gotta be both!

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?
- With every beat of my heart!

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
- Never in a million years...do you want anybody to confess to your hubby/boyf that she likes him?? I dont! So I wont do such a thing!

9. What do you pray each day for your loved one?
- I pray for health & wealth....

10. What takes you down the fastest?
- urrrmmm....urm..

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time?
- Still madly in love with my hubby ... still look young...still healthy...

12. What do you really want at the moment of responding to this tag?
- A nice dinner..can someone cook for me pleeeaaseee?

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
- Jihah is sweet...but naughty..why did you tag me..banyaknya soalan...naughty tau!

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?
- no no no... it gotta be rich & married!

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
- Prepare Tisha's lunch box...

16. What’s the character must have in your partner?
- LOYALTY & HONESTY... is that a character??

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?
- The one who love me back of course.

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing the someone has done?
- Not a chance!

19. Do you prefer being single or having a relationship?
- I'm happily married..thank God!

20. Would you leave your family behind just to chase your dreams?
- I would... it just a phone call away,thanks to the technology...Sms, Skype, IM/YM, Facebook.... I dont see any probs there.

As the rules needs me to tag 5 peoples.... so I'll tagged :

1) Reena - at least you could update your 'dusty' blog.
2) Samira - something for you to do while Hadrien's away :P
3) Kim - sorry Kim its just for fun!
4) Fahmi - please update your blog...
5) Dewi - have u forgot that u have a blog??

Project Samperit

2008-10-27T18:19:00.000+08:00

Menu-menu Ramadhan.

2008-10-08T18:24:00.004+08:00

butter prawns

kari sate

tod mun kung (thai prawn balls)

sweet sour prawns

express pizza

GET A LIFE!

2008-09-20T21:31:00.002+08:00

Have u ever met a lady, married to her fellow country man, follow her hubby works overseas for a year or so then when people ask where are you from..and without hesitate she answered I'm from Australia or I'm from England or wherever the last country her husband 'work' brought her for even a short 6 months? And another Phillipina married to a Swedish guy for barely 3 months and told everybody I'm from Europe... I have met these 2 ladies. No offense but its irked me a little.

Because I have a Pakistani friend who was born and raised in England, married to a fellow Pakistani moved back to Pakistan for a short while..then follow her husband travel around the world, I met her in Jakarta she introduce herself "Hi.I'm so and so from Pakistan. And another friend a daughter of a tycoon in Taiwan, raised in The States married to also a tycoon live Jakarta, still says she's from Taiwan and speaks Mandarin to her kids. Cute!

And another scenarios... in my teenage years, people are so secretive about their 'recipes' ... Its something personal I believe... I think I can digest that, in the late 80's where woman back in my country mostly are only housewives, the only thing they can proud of ..maybe ...just their cooking skill. Usually its goes like.." Well i dont know, i just throw these and thats in...that's just about it, no proper recipes" which read "I'm not gonna share the recipe with you,that's my masterpiece, stop asking"

Okay I can accept that.... Its happened in my family too..to be honest! It was like what, in mid 80's. But in these world of internet..food and recipes blogging and such...there are still people who just turn you off by saying 'I dont give out recipes" funny when its happened in this new millenium world. Trust me its just happened to my friend a few weeks back!

What is it all about with these 2 scenarios???

Well, 2 weeks ago, I found salted butter in supermarket here, 15 months living in Cairo it was my first encounter with salted butter, excited, I told my dear friend here, its time for us to stock up the butter since Eid is coming, then she has another idea .. telling me that she'll order some cookies from me instead... thinking that she's in her early pregnancy and hectic working schedule... i think i can make some extra batch of cookies for her. But what if she dont like my cookies?? So i whipped up a couple cookies dough, bake ém, send some for her to sample it and give extra pieces for another 2 friends to try, still thinking ... i can manage a few batches for 4 of us if the other 2 interested.

Okay, my dear friends took it seriously she asked the other 2 friends to pass around my cookies and suddenly I got a call for cookies order, 500pcs to be sent in 3 days. Hmmm... One thing here in Cairo u cant easily get thing as they way you want it to be...Once certain flour off the shelves, its months before its re-appeared! I've ordered some transparent container to fill my cookies in , you cant just simply get it from supermarket like back home. By knowing Egypt, from 2 days, become 3 days from 3 days to a week, my container not even near, so I ask around and my dear friend said what my dont you ask so and so lets call her Miss B, last year Miss B was selling some cookies here in Cairo and using that transparent container, and Miss B usually take cake orders too in Cairo, I've order some from her a week back too, I dont really know her so I'm kinda hesitate.

So for this order i just bought a freezer container and send it out in that. What a very bad day i had (lets not talk about it now)...every bad things happened on the same day at the same time.... as i pull it thru, I bring my self to send the cookies to my friend house and what a coincidence Miss B was there too, as she introduce her self, well back to the first scenarios as i heard from my dear friend, her nationality is something else and married someone from neighboring country... told us she's from her hubby country instead...and you know..she dont speaks her bahasa anymore okay, no problem lah no matter how bad my english is, i still can communicate with her! And we can understand each other well I believe! But by knowing her country she's from, people has to speak only bahasa, no other ethnic names or ethnics celebrations allowed, only the one whatever the goverments allowed, only after lady president was in charge a few years back she allowed those thingy in their country and I was living in their country for 2 years, I'm kinda stunned with her..how to say, first impression?

Okay after a few minutes chat, my so 'ítchy' mouth suddenly asking "I heard from my dear friend, last year you were selling cookies, did u get the transparent container from here?" She promptly answered "Yes from here" So I ask "May I know where u get it from" .... after a short pause she answered "I dont know" With a blanked face I asked "I thought u said you got it from here?" Then she goes "I'm not the one who got it" and i was like "Huh" and she "?My driver got it for me" and me "okay, so u dont know" but in head : "okay okay i got the picture"... I wanted to ask "u dont know where your driver got it from" Or "can u ask your driver where he got it from" But honestly, i hate this Miss B already! And I couldnt be bothered to prolonged anymore conversation with that #*@%& whatever bad names you wanted to fill in the blank i agree with it.

So I just turn to my friend and talk to her and a few minutes later I excuse myself and leave ... and Miss B as soon as i turn to my friend to talk, she quickly make her way to the kitchen, without saying goodbye or excuse herself. Thanks Miss B I cant stand anymore of you too! For God sake get a life! I wonder how deep s**h it'll be if I ask her, her cake recipes! Well Miss B your fondant cupcakes sucks! My fellow friends back home can make far far far far more better and nicer than yours and dont even mind to share the recipes and even how they make their fondant toppers and such with step by step instructions .... I can be like you but, no I dont want to... i wanna put my self higher at least higher than you,higher than your pathetic life!

So, why dont u visit http://bakingproject.com and http://cookingismypassion.blogspot.com and get some good idea from there....they share everything in there, it'll make u wiser not a loser like u! i tell ya... your product sucks! Since people have no choices in this poor Cairo, they go to you!

Well you see, Miss B, first you ireked me then she put yourself..I dont know where...kurun ke 18? I lost in translation! Kesian kan... lupa asal usul pastu.. lorat la pulak... that stupid bekas plastik tu pun tak nak cakap beli kat mana..hey aku bukan nak buat bussines macam hang..laki aku cukup duit nak bagi aku makan and shopping apa yg aku nak...sorry bukan nak barlagak! Aku just tolong kawan aku buat kuih raya ja la! (Tak pe dia Indon yang dah lupa cakap bahasa dia so dia tak paham punya, tapi kalau dia faham i'm so glad!)

Respect me, i'll respect u even more.... iritate me i'll irritate you a thousand times more!

This is my personal blog I say whatever i want to say.. don't like it..leave immediately!

Murtabak Express

2008-08-21T17:31:00.002+08:00

I called it express cause the stuffed made from leftover.
I have some leftover lamb curry and my hubby said he dont want rice for
dinner, so I fished the lamb meat, shred into small pieces and stuffed into
spring roll skin.

Here's how i prepare it:

5 Spring roll skins/sheets/pastry
Oil/butter/ghee

stuffing:
1 cup of lamb meat from leftover curries-shredded
1/2 cup onion - chopped
Some coriander leaves - chopped
Green Chillis - chooped
4 or more eggs - beaten
Salt to taste.

Add all the ingredient together u should have a runny mixture add more eggs
if necessary.

Heat a frying pan with a table spoon of oil or butter.

Spoon in the mixture at the centre of spring roll skin
Fold in the four sides to enclose the fillings by wrapping into
into a square shape.
Slide into heated pan, cook till brown both sides.
Serve hot with curries or onion pickles.

Sambal Sotong Petai & Cucur Jagung

2008-08-21T17:09:00.004+08:00

Grabbed some petai from London the oher day, i guess it from Thailand coz they labelled it as sator, sator means petai in Thai.

Talking about Thai, i remember had a good sambal sotong petai at Vichudda Restaurants in Damansara Utama.

So i try out my version of it.

500 g squids
1 cup or more chilli paste
1 onion-chopped
3 garlic-chopped
3 tbsp cooking oil
A small piece of shrimp paste/belacan - optional
Petai/Sator
Salt,sugar tamarind juice - to taste

-In a saucepan, heat oil and brown the onion and garlic, add chilli paste and belacan, cook for 5 minutes, add water if necessary.
-Add sator, salt, sugar and tamarind juice cook till the sator tender.
-Add squid cook for further 5 mins or so. Done.
Serve with jasmine rice...yum.
Cucur Jagung

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup corn in brine
1/2 cup bean sprout
1/2 cup chives - cut 2cm long
1/2 cup dried anchovies
1 small onion - sliced / spring onion roughly chopped
1 fresh chilli - chopped (optional)
1 eggs
Water
Salt to taste.
Vegetable oil for deep frying

-Heat oil in wok or dutch oven on medium heat.
- Mix flour with water to form a thick batter-consistency of pancake batter.
-Add in all the remaining ingredients, mix well and add salt to taste.
-Using a tablespoon into the hot oil, fry in batches till golden brown turn once or twice.
-Rest on paper towel and serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Stir Fry Chicken With Holy Basil/ Kai Phad Kapraow & Stuffed Omellet/Telur Bungkus/Kai Yad Sai

2008-08-04T19:40:00.006+08:00

Kim & Reena handed me plenty of bird eyes chillies. While in one of Asian's Groceries store in London, i found bunches of fresh holy basil (kapraow)...so i grabbed home some of it. Bird eyes Chilles & Holly Basils...that's a perfect combi for Thai food! The next day after arriving from our vacation...this is what i prepared for lunch!

This dish is my favourits, its nicer with beef, but hubby dont really like beef to be cooked this way, so i used chicken this time. I remember having this in Jakarta made by our beloved neighbour/friend Pi OOO. So yummy and the recipes as i remember being told by another dear friend Kwanchai, hope i got it right.
Kai Phad Kapraow

500g chicken thigh-deboned and roughly chopped *
3 cloves garlic - crushed and chooped
1 onion - chopped
3 Kaffir Lime leaves - didnt used this time,not available in Cairo
Bird eyes chillies -to taste-bruised
Holy Basil - a handful
Fish Sauce - taste
A pinch of sugar
3 tbsp cooking oil

-Heat oil, sauteed the garlics and onion till softened.
-Add the chicken, stir fry till the chicken done.
-Add lime leaves, bird eyes chillies and basil.
-Season well. Continue to stir till the basil wilted.
-Its done.
*A few pulses in food processor works well.

And i make this Stuffed Omelet to accompany the chicken dish. This one very easy dish, any leftover stir fry veggies can be used as stuffing/filling according to our Thai friends. This is how i prepared mine.
Telur Bungkus/Stuffed Omelet:

Filling:
1 cup mixed frozen vegetables
150 g minch chicken *
1 onion chopped
2 garlic crushed
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp chillie sauce
5 bird eyes chillies - crushed -optional
1 tbsp cooking oil
Salt & pepper to taste.

-heat oil, fry the garlic till brown add minch chicken stir well.
-add mixed veggies and chopped onion, cook till the chicken done.
-Season with remaining ingredients...set aside.

Omellete:
3 eggs-beaten and add
Salt & pepper to taste.
Cooking oil

-Generously coat a dry cleaned wok or skillet with oil. Or use the non stick one.
-Heat till smoking hot, add the beaten seasoned eggs, swirl the wok to get a thin large omellete.
-Spoon in the filling at the center of this thin omelet, fold in from four outer corner of the omelet to the center to form a parcel or square shape omelet.
- Transfer to serving dish folded side down.

Serve both with white thai rice....and a tom yum soup on the side ;P!

Mkn2 Jln2

2008-08-04T19:02:00.007+08:00

While berjln2 aritu sempat la, singgah and mkn2....here are the most memorable....

fresh from oven croissants...to die for!

vanilla choco chips muffins..yummmm

escargot...ala siput sedut french! sedap bangat!

Paris : fresh fruits...raspberries & peaches... huge fresh cherries were gone in seconds!

In Paris: mixed pakistani biryani with chicken vindaloo...out of this world.

we didnt really mkn2 in London coz we're sooo busy jln2 and shopping2 but we had 2 nites in a row malaysian halal buffet in holiday villa ,london.
on the first nite we had kari ketam, ikan masak kicap, nasi ayam + rendang etc
second nite was even better mussels curry, ayam nyonya, laksa johor etc. yummsss

this pic shows how yummy the mussles curry was!

This girl mkn nasi ayam kt london..we had ABC too, since ABC tak de kat cairo...and of coz sbb tak kuasa nak membuatnya sendirikan..

Oats Fried Chicken

2008-07-06T00:22:00.005+08:00

I remember came across at Su Yin's long time ago, her breakfast nuggets. Today i decided to try it but with whatever things left in my pantry.... i'm already i holiday mood... i dont really wanna spend my time in the kitchen ;). In aother words... i'm just lazy! Lazy as ever.

4 chicken breast- flatten

season with:
1 tbsp ground garlic
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbs curry powder
salt & pepper
Let it marinade for at least half an hour.

1 cup rolled oats
2 egg whites-beaten
Oil for shallow frying.

-Heat oil.
-Dip the chicken breasts in the beaten egg whites.
-Coat well with oats.
-Shallow fry till done.

Shrimps Fever-Reena's Spicy Shrimps

2008-07-05T23:46:00.003+08:00

Had this at Reena's last week and we longing for more.... No exact measurement.... just follow your instinct. Yummo.

Start with -

Chili Paste:

Dried Chillis- seeded-boiled-drained
Shrimp paste/belacan
Onion
Garlic

-Process all ingredients in a blender till form a smooth paste.
This paste keeps well in fridge for 2 weeks and months in freezer.

Then-

Shrimps - cleaned as preffered
A little more shrimp paste
Onion-sliced
Oil
Salt, sugar, tamarind juice to taste

-Heat Oil, deep fried shrimp for 1 minutes (till it turns red)-drained
-In the same pan/wok, reserve some oil from the deep frying, stir fried the chilli paste till oil separates
-Add shrimp paste and onion, continue to stir till the onion softened.
-Now add the deep fried shrimp, salt, sugar & tamarind juice.
-Cook till the shrimps done, about 3-5 mins. Done.

Serve hot with hot jasmine rice.

Reena anything that i missed here please point it out k. Thanks. It was good...

Sambal Udang Terung Mak Tok/ Gramma's Aubergine Chilli Prawn.

2008-06-13T01:53:00.004+08:00

250 g prawn-cleaned
1 cup fresh chilli paste
1/2 cup dried chilli paste
A small cube of belacan-optional*
1 large aubergine - sliced into 2 cm thick **
1 cup thick coconut milk
1 onion-chopped
3 garlic-chopped
3 tbsp tamarind juice
2 tbsp cooking oil
salt & sugar to taste

-Heat oil sauteed onion and garlic till fragrant, add chillie paste
-Add dried and fresh chilli paste cook till oil separetes.
-Meanwhile, deep fried sliced aubergine till brown.*** drain well.
-Add in coconut milk, tamarind juice salt sugar let it boil for 5 minutes
-Add prawn, let it cook for further 5-8 mins depends on your prawn size.
-Just before turn off the fire, add in fried aubergine.
-Serve hot with jasmine rice.

*if using, grind together with fresh or dried chilli.
*my grandma peel the aubergine, i didnt because i want it to hold it shapes.
***i just brown with a tablespoon of oil in a non stick pan. (photo below)

VIOLA!

Plum Cake

2008-06-13T01:35:00.003+08:00

Found this in VideoJug

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or gas mark 4.

Add the sugar into the mixer bowl, followed by the 3 eggs and the vanilla essence. Lower the whisk attachment, switch on the blender to a medium-high speed and whisk for roughly 2 minutes.When it is nicely pale and fluffy, carefully start to add the butter, little by little. Spoon in the first batch while the blender is still whisking, allow to mix in, then add the second spoonful. Continue adding the butter one spoon at a time until it is all mixed in.Whilst still whisking add the crème fraiche, briefly let it mix in, then turn off the mixer.

Now add the flour, orange juice, lemon juice and orange zest. Switch on the blender to a slow whisk and blend for roughly one minute to combine everything, then switch off.Shake the mixture off the whisk attachment and remove the bowl. Using your spatula, give it a quick mix by hand to make sure that everything is completely blended.


Using your spatula pour the batter into the spring form tin and spread it into the edges and the mould of the tin, finally smoothing over the top.

Individually place the plums at an angle around the edges of the tin, using gentle pressure to push them slightly into the batter. Leave about 1 cm between each plum. Then make a second, inner ring until all the plums are used. Your cake is now ready to bake.

Place the tin into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for roughly 60 minutes. Once baked remove from the oven and allow to cool down before serving.

Decorate the cake with a little icing sugar, then cut into slices and serve with a nice cup of tea. You can add a dollop of fresh cream if you wish!

Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

2008-06-02T02:35:00.004+08:00

After cracking my head out .... what's for dessert.... i settled for this one....its always everyones favourites! And of course Dewi asked for recipe straight away!

I usually use Lily's ingredients and follow Su yin's methods.

Here are what I copy & paste from Su Yin's & Lily's

250g cream cheese
50g butter
100ml heavy whipping cream

Melt these ingredients in a microwave safe container on high until smooth. Remove from microwave and stir mixture every 30 seconds. Cooled. Once the cheese mixture cooled, fold in these ingredients:

60g superfine flour
20g cornflour
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp of lemon zest
¼ tsp salt
140g fine granulated sugar(divide into 2, one half for the egg yolk mixture and the other for the egg whites)

6 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Beat egg whites until foamy and alternately whisk in sugar and cream of tar tar until soft peaks form. Should take about 8-10 minutes with a mixer on high.
Add and stir in a big dollop of the egg whites into the cake batter to slacken the mixture and fold in the rest gently until combined.
Grease an 8 inch cheesecake tin with butter and flour the surface. Tap out the excess flour. Cover the bottom of the cake tin with foil to prevent water seeping through. Pour the cake batter into the tin and sit it in a larger baking dish filled with boiling water. Make sure the water is approximately 3/4 of the cake height. Bake in a preheated 150 degrees oven. When the top is nice and golden, reduce the temperature to 125 degrees and bake for another hour. Remove cake from oven to cool for approximately an hour before removing it from the tin. This cake is EXTREMELY fragile; do not attempt to flip it!

Spice Rest, 4 Seasons Garden City, Cairo

2008-06-02T02:09:00.005+08:00

My hubby craving for chinese food again... where else? Spice Rest we go...Tish enjoyed prawns this time...and of course noodles....

Care for some prawn salads?

Seafood Salads-
clockwise mussles&glass noodles, beef salad, calamari salad, jellyfish salad center-prawn salad

Our choices of dimsum

Those are yummy trust me!

The desserts were boring..only fruits and goreng pisang (banana fritters), so no photos of it!

My Grandma's Prawn & Potato Curry.

2008-05-29T18:48:00.003+08:00

I missed seafoods... living here in Cairo the last time i had fresh seafood was in Port Said, in Cairo i never buy fresh seafood, first i dont 'recognise' the fish, second no matter what it is, prawn or calamari it dont look that fresh to me, so i end buy the frozen ones.... best part its freshly frozen from Vietnam hehehe....well of course its not that fresh but at least i know i bought something 'familiar'. Btw If i ever go to Port Said again i'll sure bring home lotta seafoods!
This one is my favourite.... if i'm home, this usually i requested for.... no body can make a good curry like my dear grandma...and all her foods are heavenly! mak tok i miss you.

Of course mine not as good as hers, not even near, but enough to pleased my dear hubby ... so i can live with it.

Kari Udang Mak Tok
Grandma's Prawn & Potato Curry

250 g medium size prawn-clean and prepared as desired
2 small potato- quartered
5 tbsp fish curry powder
1/2 tbsp fennel powder
3 small onion-pounded
3 garlic-pounded
1/2 " fresh ginger- pounded
2 assam gelugur
1/4 cup thick coconut milk
1-2 cup thin coconut milk
1/4 tbsp fennel seed
2 spring curry leaves
3 small onion-sliced
2 garlic-sliced
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

1. Mix well curry powder, fennel powder, pounded garlic+onion+ginger, assam gelugur, salt and thick coconut milk. Add some water if necessary to form a runny paste.
2. Heat oil in a small pot, sauteed sliced onion and garlic till brown add in curry leaves and fennel seeds stir well.
3. Add in curry paste, stir every now and then on a medium fire till oil separates.
4. Add potatoes, stir around for 2 minutes.
5. Add thin coconut milk depends on how much gravies you'd like to have. 1 cup of thin coconut milk will give a thick rich curry. A mild curry would need 2 cups of coconut milk.
6. When the potatoes are almost done turn the fire low add in the prawn.
7. Let it simmer for further 5 mins, the prawn wont take long to cook.
8. Season with a little more salt if needed.
9. Done.

Doughnuts - Failed!

2008-05-29T13:25:00.001+08:00

It looked okay, but the texture.... out! Should ask my mom how she did her famous doughnuts!

Braekfast On The Patio

2008-05-18T18:01:00.004+08:00

My Tomei Tish ask for pancake yesterday morning, it was nice weather so we had our pancake on the patio.

A perfect Saturday! Love when you guys at home my darling, my baby!

On the Border, Mexican Restaurant @CityStar

2008-05-18T17:22:00.005+08:00

We went for Mexican food the other day in CityStar. It was yum! Real yum! I hope they'll maintain it! They have open kitchen where you see them preparing the fajitas and all. So far we have no complaint about this place. We'll go back there for sure.

I should warn for a small eater, their portion quite huge...we even have to pack back the leftover, and the leftover its enough for our dinner for that night! the moment we sat down, we got this yummy salsa&nachos!

yummy fresh fiery salsa

Mexican soup

Tish kid meal, chicken strip & fries

daddy's meal Baja Chicken

Mine...i forgot the name...but it very huge meal...real huge

Tish & her ice cream

My Tukang Uli Roti.

2008-05-18T16:33:00.006+08:00

Last Thursday, i make this red bean bun...yup....again! Oh come on this time I make for Reena, she been working so hard ;), i'm thinking of dropping this at her place on the very next day, but she end up at my place, since they had to go to Dar El Fouad Hospital near my house. Safeia wasnt feeling well, just like what Tish had last week. Glad to have them, but i'm sad, there're nothing in fridge only 1 chicken that i turn into Chicken 65 and some curry and frozen rendang from the Indonesian lady.

I'm not talking about my chicken 65 or rendang today..

It was a fun day that day, 3 of us were in the kitchen. My dear hubby helped kneading the bread, though after 10 mins of kneading the first thing she say was 'How much is the breadmaker?' hehehehe... And i was like "No i dont want breadmaker, i want heavy duty mixer"..."No! no! ok let me rephrase..i want KitchenAid... i can make more things with it .." and the were quiet moment for a while... and then...he said" Wait for your birthday" and i go.."No kidding??? My birthday is in 4 months time u know"...and he replied.."or maybe next valentine"...and i dont feel like answering to that!
Anyway thanks darling for helping me...and Tish enjoy herself helping us. I just did the measuring & cleaning! A great teamwork...a yummy bun...a very happy day!

Tish help greased the foil

And daddy gave Tisha some dough to knead

The end result, i make smaller bun with generous amount of filling this time ! And Reena she end up having this bun at my place instead me send it to her home! Get well soon Safeia.

Chilli's @Meeting Point.

2008-05-18T15:43:00.004+08:00

Tish wasnt feeling so good last week, our driver on leave for the week, we have substitute drive from the office but he dont really know way around town. We dont know where to go, but yet, we dont wanna stay home either .... Our Tish was like whining to to go out.... the nearest place to us is Chilli's @Meeting Point next to HyperOne...they have small playground for kids to play...so...that's it... To The Chilli's we go....

From left Triple Play,Nachos,Shanghai Wing&Mashed Potato

I personally like this Chilli's...because the waiters & waitress are professional... they never fail to ask & reminds us.. "Ma'am ,should I bring your daughter her juice together with yours, i'm afraid she wont be eating if she has her juice now." Well just like my mom & gramma back home...So i feel at home. Since everybody knows you...the services even 'warmer'. They remember your name... just like when you are flying on the 1st class ;). And my hubby, he love the mashed potato so much.
Shanghai Wings

Well, Chilli's as everyone knows, has almost the same menu everywhere on earth. But here in Egypt we personally love the yummy cheesy Nachos and the Shanghai Chicken Wings, and the must have appertizer Triple Play
not forgetting her Barney..Tish shared her juice with Barney.

Wagamama, CityStars, Cairo

2008-05-07T22:39:00.006+08:00

The usherer & The model

Tish was asking for noodles the other day, when this Miss Picky Eater asking for something in particular, most of the time we'll respond promptly, since we're in CityStars we headed to Wagamama the Japanese Noodles Bar.

The See Thru Kitchen & Ready to 'Rumble' Chefs

The interior & the model of the day

We had a satisfying meals that day... big potion of good food, friendly and FAST services i should mentioned, bright & simple ambience...just make us feel we are in Japan for a second. God I miss Japan...and their ramen shop, however, I'm glad I'm in Wagamama Egypt, I can savour everything in the menu without guilt...since its all halal!

By the way, Wagamama was born in London not Japan about 15 years ago. For more info check out their website at www.wagamama.com with 'download-able' menu..Egypt site still under construction, try UAE site for similar menu.

We had Tori Karaage for appertiser. The chicken was so succulent...loves it!
Tori Karaage

Tish loves the miso and she had some of our noodles.
sssllluuurrp your miso soup the Japanese way!

My hubby had Chillie Chicken Men for the main course, contrary to the name this noodles not spicy at all, its just sweet and sour, still yummy i should say, i wonder how its like if its really spicy...
Chicken Chillie Men

And I had Yaki Soba, it was nicely done with bean sprout... i'll go back there for more of this, soon

Yaki Soba

Coconut Filling Bun

2008-05-06T20:24:00.002+08:00

By my darling hubby request, i made another batch of sweet bun, this time with coconut filling instead of read bean. He really love my red bean bun... without hesitation i work on this immediately .
How i prepare the red bean bun and the filling:
The filling:

1 cup fresh grated coconut- i use dessicated no fresh available here
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup palm sugar or just use muscovado sugar for a strong flavour
A pinch of salt
1 padanus/screwpine leaf- optional
Additional sugar if necessary
Additional water if necessarry
*if using dessicated coconut, soak it with hot water covered for 30 mins to softened.

- In a pot over medium heat dissolved palm sugar with water, then add the coconut and the rest of the ingredients.
-You might need to add some sugar for slightly sweeter filling....up to your palate anyway.
-Cook till all the water absorb and the filling look dry.

Fill in the dough and viola

Nile Peking,Maadi, Egypt

2008-05-06T19:44:00.006+08:00

Well we planned to go for a Nile Lunch Cruise, with Nile Peking Boat last Easter, called for reservation they said there are no cruise available for 3 weeks, still in the mood for Chinese, we headed to Nile Peking in Maadi.

We had lotta appertiser instead the main course... here are our appetisers :
spicy deep fried calamari

steamed wanton
deep fried wanton
spring rolls

tisha's chopsticks skill

For our main dish, we had Chillie Beef & Spicy Ginger Chicken with white rice and noodles. The Chillie Beef not as spicy as we expected and the Ginger Chicken kinda salty.

not so spicy chillie beef
spicy ginger chicken... salty

And our dessert is candied banana with ice cream. Today there's something wrong with the candied banana, usually its crunchy on the outside but today they poured too much caramel on it...with ic cream at the bottom, it all harden up at once...u cant even break it with your dessert spoon :(...so Tisha just digged out the ice cream.

candied banana with ice cream

Sharizal BBQ Birthday Party

2008-05-01T01:49:00.004+08:00

Sharizal, The Birthday Boy

The Host- Sharizal & Reena
The Yummy Birthday Cake
Testing the temperature???

Reena's famous mashed potato- at least claimed by her! hehehe

From the Barbe.

Reena pretending to be busy......hehehe

After Party Pose!

For recipes ... please visit Reena's blog

Red Bean Bun

2008-04-30T01:01:00.005+08:00

hot from the oven

I still have plenty of red bean filling, balance from my mooncake, so i googled for sweet bun recipe, i found this cool site for bread named cookingbread the recipes there are straight forward and easy to follow,and this particular one, u dont need bread flour or bread softener, its just all purpose flour. Isnt that so convenient...

TheVanilla Sugar Sweet Bun look yummy on the site, but today, i just use the dough recipe and fill it with red bean paste. The Vanilla Sugar will be on my next list....

My Red Bean Bun was a success 'project' and it was a hit too, my hubby even said i could open a bakry back home..hehe thanks darling!

Here's how i did my bun with cookingbread helped :

Dough:

1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla (i omit this for my red bean bun)
1/2 cup (melted) butter
1/3 cup vanilla sugar- i used castor sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 - 4 cups all purpose flour
1 extra egg-beaten for eggwash
red bean paste-shape into a ball

1) In a saucepan slowly bring milk to a scald .Do not boil

2) Pour the scalding milk into a large bowl. Allow to cool to 105F - 110F then add the melted butter and sugar.

3) Add in about one cup of flour and the beaten eggs and mix till smooth. Now, add in the salt and instant yeast. Sprinkle about a half a cup of flour on a flat surface. Pour out the sticky dough and add another half cup of flour on top.

4) Begin to knead in the flour slowly, add a little at a time till you get a slightly sticky dough but workable. Continue to knead for 8 - 10 minutes. The dough will become smooth and elastic. Pour a little oil into a clean separate bowl.

5) Place the dough into the bowl and flip over so all sides of the dough is lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to set for about 1 hour or till double in bulk. After dough has risen, pour out onto a flat surface.

before proof

after 1 hr proofing

6) Cut dough in half, place one piece back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Using the piece of dough on the flat surface, cut into desired size.

7) Shape into a ball, then flatten it with your hand, put 1 red bean ball seal the dough. I make about 16 buns from the dough.

8) Place into a greased round pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 1 hour or till double in bulk. Like these :
after double in bulk

8) Brush with the egg wash and bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 30 minutes or till top is golden brown. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

the texture

Mooncake

2008-04-29T23:34:00.008+08:00

The other day my friend Reena bought me azuki bean from Japanese grocery store here in Cairo. A small pack of about 100g azuki bean cost a bomb here about 30 LE ( +-RM 20). I better use it properly i told myself.

I made the red bean paste earlier, before i decided what to do with it. Here's how to prepare the paste!
my red bean paste

Then while browsing Su Yin's i saw this tempting mooncake, yup out of nowhere i made mooncake, hey i dont have to wait for mooncake festival to savour it, do i? U can find step by step recipes by Su Yin there. and hers look much cuter. Here's how mine looks like:

my mooncake..yummy!

I got approval from Su Yin to paste the recipe... here it is... thanks Su....

Yellow dough : 1/2 cup flour + 3 tbsp melted butter
White: 1 cup flour + 3 tbsp butter+ 5 tbsp water+ pinch of salt

Mix dough ingredients in 2 separate bowls and form 10 portions of tiny balls with each.
Flatten white dough lightly with your palm. Wrap yellow dough ball in white disc. Flatten with a rolling pin into a thin disc. Roll up the disc from bottom edge to form a cigar. Flip it 90 degrees and flatten again. Roll the long cylinder from the bottom up again to form a compact spiral on the sides. Stand the cyclinder up and flatten into a circular disc (4 inches in diameter). Spoon bean mixture into the center and pinch corners of dough to seal. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes in the middle rack.

Soto Ayam

2008-04-27T18:09:00.005+08:00

I made some Soto Ayam a few days back, the other day Reena gave me this spice mix which good for soup, nothing much in there just the basic asian's soup spices like coriander seed, star anise, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon....but its well blended and nice 'ratio' of all that spices....the end result... a very aromatic chicken soup.

Soto basically is Indonesian Noodles Soup, there are hundreds type of Soto, different province will have different ingredients ... while some province serve with glass noodles, some will eats with rice noodles and the other might serve with rice cakes... so goes the soup..some will add coconut milk...it would either be beef or chicken soup base and many more variety of it... and the same with the condiments some serve with pergedil (potato+meat patties) while some serve with potato chips...some will serve with cow organs liver, heart and such

Personally love the one with glass noodles + pergedil... where the pergedil helps thicken and give 'body' to the thin soup. Yum Yum!

Here's my version of the common soto that i used to eat back home, the simplest one, i should say :

Bergedil/Pergedil

Bergedil/Pergedil (patato+meat patties)

500 g potato - boiled, then mashed
300 g minch beef/chicken - beef will give stronger taste though.
5 tbsp deep fried shallot-ground
2 tbsp chopped spring onion
2 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional)
2 eggs- beaten
Some corn flour
Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying

-I a large bowl add all ingredients except the eggs.
-Mix well-use your hand to do this, a lil' messy but easier than using spatula.
-With wet hand shape into patties, dust with corn flour, do till all the mixture finish.
-Heat oil, turn to med heat, dip the patties into eggs deep fried till golden brown.
*This Patties can be made ahead, freeze/refrigerate after dusting with flour*
*good on its own too*

sambal kicap (chili+soy sauce)

Sambal Kicap

A handful of bird eyes chilles
3 cloves of garlic
Sweet soy sauce, Salt + Vinegar to taste.

-Ground all the first 3 ingredients well
-Season with the remaining ingredients to taste, it should be a balance taste of sweet, spicy & sour.
- This sambal should be made ahead too,it is nicer as it 'aged'
The Chicken Soup

1 whole large chicken
3 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp galangal paste
2 tbsp Asian soup mix/soup powder*
Enough water to cover the chicken
Salt to taste
-In a soup pot, add the ingredients, let it boil till the chicken are cooked.
-Take out the chicken, as soon as bearable, separate all the chicken meat off the bone.
-Put back the bone in the soup let it simmer for further 5 min,
-Shred the chicken meat into thin strips. Covered the chicken set aside.
-

*you could make your own soup mix as per below or just use garam masala powder:*
2 tbsp of fennel seed
1 tbsp of cumin seed
1 tbsp of cloves
2 tbsp coriander seed
2 star anises
2 cm cinnamon
1 tbsp whole black pepper corn
5 pods of cardamom

- crushed into small pieces of the large spices such as cinnamon + star anises. (use rolling pin to do so)
- ground in pestle+mortar or coffee grinder.
- or u could use your blender's dry mill- but soak the spices in hot water, covered for 10 mins.
-This spices keeps well, 3 months in airtight container at least.
Btw, if there's any Asian/Indonesian grocery store they might have Soto Mix even easier to use just disregard all the above soup ingredients and forget about all those spices.

To Serve :

Glass noodles-soak in hot water to soften
Boiled eggs-halved and slice thinly
Lime wedges
Cilantro-chopped
Spring Onion-chopped
Deep fried shallot
Chicken strips from the soup earlier
Pergedil
Sambal kicap

To Assemble:
Add glass noodles in a soup bowl, top with chicken strips, sprinkle with eggs, cilantro, spring onion followed by fried shallots. Pour the soup in, put 1-2 perkedil on top with as much sambal kicap as u like, squeeze lime on...viola!

Port Said... El Borg Restaurant:The Seafood Heaven!

2008-04-21T23:41:00.005+08:00

We went to Port Said over the weekend.. nothing to brag about Port Said other than their seafoods. A very fresh cheap seafood! I'm not complaining...

Its just poor my darling hubby, he didnt manage to have a rest at all, just one hour stroll along the beach with Tish, the rest of the time he hooked on the phone & his laptop, due to some problem at the office...he didnt sleep 2 nites in a row....my poor darling.

This quick dinner is a blast...anyway.
grilled tiger prawns..to die for!
spicy deep fried calamari-heaven!
seafood rice..yummy!

Recipes

2008-04-21T22:53:00.005+08:00

Recipe for the last post.

Lamb Curry

1.5 kg boneless lamb-cubed
100 ml plain yoghurt
5 tbsp fresh ground ginger
3 tbsp fresh ground garlic
4 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp chillie powder
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
- Mix all the above ingredients, set a side for about 30mins

2 large bombay onion-chopped
3 large tomato - chopped
2 or more green chillie - chopped
2 sprig of curry leaves
100 ml fresh cream
Some water-depend of how u like your curry(thick or thin gravy)
Salt to taste
Oil

-Heat oil sautee the onion till caramelise, add tomato stir till the tomato pulpy,add curry leaves.
-Add the marinated lamb, stir well.
-Add some water to to allow the lamb to cook.
-Add the cream and salt to taste. Done.

Sambal Sotong/Spicy Squids

500g squids
5 tbsp chilli paste
1 large bombay onion-chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp oil
Salt, sugar & tamarind juice to taste

-heat oil add the onion stir till soft and tender add garlic, stir well.
-add the chillie paste, together with the seasoning, let the chillie cook for at least 5 mins, carefull not to let it burn, add 2 tbsp of water if its too dry.
-turn the fire low, add squids, stir well, let the squids cook with low fire about 8 mins or so. Done.

Cucumber Salad

2 large cucumber
1 small onion
1 green chillies
salt, sugar & white vinegar to taste

-slice the first 3 ingredients thinly.
-add the salt,sugar&vinegar just before serving time

Chicken 65

I found this yummy recipe at this indian site panchakam
A good site for Kerala Cuisine.

Mr Selva&Bernard In Da House

2008-04-17T00:13:00.003+08:00

Mr Selva & Mr Bernard is going back to Malaysia today, i met them 2 days ago for lunch they were saying, they'll be here for another week or two, suddenly while i was at the gym yesterday my dear hubby called saying that their leaving tomorrow (means today), so we decided to have them over for dinner last nite.

Well since it was last minutes plan, i only have some squid in fridge, i headed to HyperOne for some chicken & lamb.

I make some lamb curry, chicken 65, spicy squids & some cucumber salads.

Recipes will follow soon, since i dont really measure my daily dish, i have to estimate the ingredients and will post it here soon... till then.

Herrings In Tomato Sauce-Malaysian Style

2008-04-16T23:44:00.004+08:00

My dear hubby wanted his favorite sardine dish, couldnt find the usual sardines in tomato sauce like back home, here i can only find sardines in brine, which wont taste as 'authentic' even if u add tomato sauce/ketchup in it.
Anyhow I found this in Carrefour, Herring Fillet In Tomato Sauce, why not give it a shot!

Spicy Sardine

1 small can sardines in tomato sauce
1 large bombay onoion-chopped
3 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 large tomato-chopped
1 sprig curry leaves ( I dont have it here in Cairo)
2 tbsp chillie paste/ chillie powder
1 tbsp curry powder - optional
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

- Heat oil, sauteed garlic till brown followed by the onion stir till soft and caramelised, add tomato continue to stir till tomato become pulpy.
-Add curry leaves then chillie paste and curry powder if using
-Continue to stir for about 5 mins, add about 2 tbsp of water if its too dry... this will avoid the curry powder from burning too.
-Finally add the sardines, season with salt mix well ...done.
-Serve hot.

* U can leave the sardine whole in the gravy, as u can see i mashed my sardines, the way my hubby want it to be.
*Goes well with rice & bread ... flat bread especially-chapatis, pitta etc
*This spicy herring tastes just as good as sardines.

spicy herrings...

Latast Craze In Da House

2008-04-16T23:16:00.005+08:00

Looking for some cookies for Tish in Carrefour the other day, i came across this, i bought one pack to try, it finished in a blink! Went back the next day for more-5 packs this time.

Its yummy, lights and crunchy....loads of chocolate chips.... so sad we dont have this in Malaysia!

sorry forgot to rotate

look at the choco chips.. bye bye chipsmore

Fusion, Asian Food By The Corniche

2008-04-15T02:41:00.005+08:00

After bunch @ Lucielle , Aik Cheong Coffee & yapping @ Reena's, we had our early dinner @ Fusion by the Corniche.

We had some rice with green curry, ginger chicken, glass noodles salad & deep fried calamari. The green curry was .. how do i put this....lame? Can i use lame on food??? hehehe.. what everit is...it was so not yummy...okay okay i'll say it....it was soooo yucky!

But the glass noodles salad was good, a good twist of lime juice, salt & sugar, truly Thai but they called it Singapore Noodles at the restaurant...??! By the way the deep fried calamari are well seasoned with of course from out of the box pre mix flour, it wasnt that bad but the portion kinda small...and the ginger chicken was great..even Tish loves it.

Tish with her chopsticks skill.

Daddy enjoyed his rice!

Wanted more of Lucielle's...their breakfast i mean!

2008-04-13T00:31:00.003+08:00

Went to have breakfast with Reena & Safeia in Lucielle's, Maadi yesterday. I had a wonderful waffles, where Reena & my hubby had their eggs & beef bacon with toast. The kids were sharing our portion, so they had both. I was tempted to order their french toast which was according to Reena was so wonderful, but after not having A&W waffles for so long i opt for waffles instead and some beef sausage too. But unfortunately I forgot to take some photos since Tish & Safeia a little restless, they woke up early yesterday so they kinda sleepy the time arrived Lucielle's.

Apart from that, i was so happy to see Tish & Safeia finish their breakfast! So today, i make some sausages + sunny side up & some rolls for breakfast .... hoping Tish will finish all those again.... and yup she did! I'm a happy mommy!

Spaghetti...Malaysian Style

2008-04-12T23:19:00.006+08:00

Blame it all on Reena, she came over last weekend with mee goreng & pengat pisang, since then 3 of us longing for more and more and more of the mee goreng.. even my dear Tish...was asking for it..mommy noodesh(mommy noodles)?... Anyway Reena yours was so yummy, that's why we have this 'after effect' cravings...

Hahaha making mee goreng in Cairo to curb the craving....without yellow noodles available around .... use the next best thing... spaghetti.... taste as good and minus the gassy feeling that we usually had after a plateful of mee goreng back home too. And yup Reena was using the spaghetti too.

What u need :

250 g spaghetti-cooked
200 g boneless chicken - diced ( seafoods, beef can be added/substitute)
2 tbsp chillie paste - more or less according to your taste bud.
3 cloves garlic-crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 piece deep fried firm tofu-sliced.
Salt, sugar & a dash of vinegar to taste
Vegetables of your choice, for asian taste use : bean sprout, choy sum & shredded cabbage
This time i use : bok choy cut into 2cm length (separate leaves&stalk) + shredded cabbage.

1) Heat oil, sauteed garlic till brown, add chicken stir till chicken half done, add the chillie paste, u might need to add some water 1-2 tbsp if its to dry.
2) When the chicken is done, its better to season at this stage, with salt sugar & vinegar, then add the bok choy stalk. This how it will look like:

half way thru, chicken,chillie paste & bok choy stalks

3) Add the deep fried tofu. Stir well.
deep fried tofu

4) Add the spaghetti together with , cabbage bok choy leaves, toss for a few minutes till the spaghetti well coated with the chillies and veggies are done.

The end results!

*Serve the noodles with sprinkle of fried shallots,chopped scallions, chinese parsley, sliced boiled egg,sliced picked green chillies & lime wedge. However these are truly optionial.

*What i have that day was only, parsley, fried shallot & lime wedge.*

Foody

2008-04-11T04:34:00.001+08:00

myspace layouts

Scones 4 Breakfast, Anyone?

2008-04-11T03:25:00.004+08:00

Scones

Dont know what to prepare for breakfast last weekend, my dear Tish was asking for muffins, but flipping thru my favourite book PERIPLUS MINI COOKBOOKS : MUFFNS, SCONES & TEACAKES, huh, why not scones instead, coincidently i just bought a jar of fig jam and some french butter a day before.... nice combi! Since this book never fail me, i dare try....

SCONES

2 cups self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
30g butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water

1. Preheat oven to a very hot =22o C. Sift flour & salt together into a large bowl. Add butter and rub in lightly using fingertips.
2. Combine milk & water. Make well in the center of the flour. Pour liquid all at once, reserving about a teaspoon for glazing. Mix quickly to form a soft dough.
3. Turn onto floured board (use self-raising flour). Knead lightly. Press or roll out to form about 2 cm thick.
4. Cut using a floured plain round cutter or cut into triangles using a floured knife.
5. Place on a greased oven tray and glaze with milk. Bake for 10-12 mins or until scones sound hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack. Serve with jam and cream.

* i added about half cup of raisins.
* i need to bake extra 3 mins with my oven
* as per book, u can glaze with melted butter for brown finish, as mine turn out shiny with milk glaze. Will try butter next time around.

Scones with jam & butter

2 satisfied customers!

The Debut :Koshary...The Egyptian Dish

2008-04-10T17:42:00.002+08:00

The Koshary.. all ready to be assembled.

The Koshary-Ready to Ngap/eat.

I'm so into Koshary these days, i ask my driver to buy for me almost everyday from Abou Tarek-the famous Koshary House in town...i just cant get enough of it.. until one day my dear maid, was like..."Madam, its very easy to make, and it keeps well in fridge, i'll show you how to make it" That's how it all started.

Yup kinda easy to make, but... so many things to do... i mean the preparation... but it all worth it. Trust me..

Koshary actually a combi of cooked rice, pasta & lentils and some chickpeas...need to be 'assembled' in a bowl, top with salsa, sprinkle with deep fried shallot....some vinegar + dried chille paste on the side... and viola!

Rice & Lentil

The Pasta

The Chickpeas

The Salsa

My version of chille paste (sambal)

What u need to do, first of all prepare the chickpeas:

1 cup chickpeas - soak overnight
1 whole bombay onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
-boil all of the above ingredients till chickpeas are well done.

Then the salsa
10 medium size very ripe tomato-process in blender/food process till form a fine paste.
5 cloves garlic-chopped
2 tbsp cooking oil.
-heat the oil, sauteed the garlic till brown, add the tomato paste, simmer till thicken.
-season well with salt & pepper

While the chickpeas are boiling and the salsa simmering, start to work on the lentil and rice, in Abou Tarek's they cook lentil & rice separately but this is what i maid thought me...how to safe time if u have 2 years old toddler insist to be carried at the same time when u are cooking, here's the shortcut:

1 cup black lentils-
2 cups egyptian rice/basmathi will work well too
3 tbsp cooking oil (2 tbsp oil + 1 tbsp ghee/butter)
3-4 cups of water or more depending on your type of rice.
Salt to taste
-Heat the fat, add in lentils, keep on stirring for 3 mins, add water then simmer till lentils half cook, add in rice cook till the water all absorbs, put the pot's lid on, turn off the fire, let it steaming away for 15mins.
-Dont forget to check on your salsa & chickpeas.

1 cup pasta - any type u like- cooked.

Condiments

Some vinegar
Chillie paste/flakes*
Deep fried shallots

* As for the chillies, i make sambal the very Malaysian kinda way of chillie dish. What u need :
1 cup dried chillies paste- process dried chillies with some water in blender
3 cloves of garlic-crushed
2 tbsp oil
salt+sugar+vinegar to taste
-heat oil, sauteed crush garlic till brown, add the chillie paste, cook till oil separated, seasoned well.

To serve :
In a single serving dish (use your soup bowl instead of the flat dinner plate) scoop in rice & lentil followed by pasta, top with some chickpeas, spoon some salsa on top then spinkle with some deep fried shallot. Serve with vinegar & chillie paste on the side.
Enjoy.