Nasi Tomato

First and foremost, I would like to wish all my Muslim brothers and sisters, Ramadhan Kareem! 

I am posting this entry while waiting for my Bread and Butter Pudding (with added cinnamon powder) in the oven to bake and my Lamb Stew to cook just nice and tender. Ooooh! The aroma!!!! If only I could include in this entry, the 'smell' of what's cooking in my kitchen. I wonder if there is a Fragrant App that I could download to do this. I swear I can make your stomach rumble just by the smell of my Lamb Stew. I know mine is! :p

Anyhoo, pictures of the Bread and Butter Pudding and the Lamb Stew Delhi Style (actually, it's not! I just came up with the name. It's just another of my crazy concoction of spices put together in an old fashioned way) will be posted in tomorrow's entry, Insya'Allah! Today, I will share with you pictures of what I cooked for the first day of Ramadan....

Tadddaaaaahhhh.....

Nasi Tomato

Ayam Masak Merah

                                                          
                          Dalca Kambing

Pacri Nenas

It was a boring Saturday, so I decided to cook up a feast...and a feast it was! It was a dinner for 10 and it took me approximately 3 hours to complete. Not too bad, RazZ! 

For those interested, the following is the recipe for my Nasi Tomato:-

Ingredients

• 4 cups of Bhasmati Rice (washed and soaked for 30 minutes)
• 3 cups of water
• 1 cup Chicken Stock
• 1 cup of evaporated milk
• 
  

• 1 Onion - blended
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 4 cardamons
• 5 cloves
• 4 tbsp tomato puree

• 4 tbsp of butter/margarine
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat up the butter on medium heat.
2. Stir fry blended onion and all the spices till fragrant. Add in the tomato puree and mix well.
3. Add in milk and bring to a low boil. 
4. Pour the milk mixture into the rice pot containing the washed rice, water and chicken stock and cook till rice is done stirring occasionally.
5. Tips for cooking Bhasmati rice: always use a fork to fluff the rice to preserve the nice long grains!

Selamat Mencuba and I really hope you will like it. 

Ciao bellas and Selamat berbuka to those who are fasting!

Oven-Baked Barbecue Chicken

It has been a while since my last entry. I've been really busy. Very busy. Busybody!!!

I've cooked up dinners and kuehs and shot a few pictures of which are still sitting in the hard disk waiting to be uploaded but I'm going to take my time and post the recent ones first. Recent ones being tonight's dinner! It has been raining the whole of today and laziness crept in so I've decided to throw in some chicken legs and made a simple no-fuss dinner for 3. 

The barbecue sauce was homemade. Less sugar and with a dash of vinegar, a slightly more tangy. I had baked scallop potatoes with cheese and rosemary to go with the chicken and some fresh fruits with low-fat yoghurt dressing. The kids are not particularly fond of greens, so I've decided to skip the hassle and serve fruit salad instead. 

I've been eating like a pig for the past weeks so tonight's dinner is a welcomed change. Hah!

Tomorrow, I will try to post up some pictures I took last Saturday of a simple lunch I prepared for a girlfriend, who traveled all the way from Singapore for my Sambal Udang Petai. :D 

Sssshhhh...I think I hear my bed calling me....nanite, beloveds!

Kuih Keria

...or as my son would say, 'Malay Donuts'.

I had some leftover sweet potatoes from the Mee Rebus' recipe of last week, or was it from 2 weeks ago? Since this is yet another easy recipe, where I can just agak2 and campak2, I decided to make some for tea.

I boiled and mashed the sweet potatoes in the morning and got the flour in the measuring cup before I flee the house doing about my professional routine. So, by the time I got home in the late afternoon, I need only shape and fry them up, put the kettle on and have my own little tea retreat on the balcony. Oh! I had only one piece! Percaya tak? :p

I'm gonna catch a movie on the box now...Dream House with Daniel Craig on it. Sexayyy!!! Ciao bellas!

Buah Melaka a.k.a Ondeh Ondeh

Tea time delights for a lazy Tuesday. This is one of my 11 year old daughter's favs. She is another Mak Nenek! It is rarely that you can find a girl her age who likes traditional and nyonya kuehs. Anyhow, on the way to school this morning she asked if I could make Ondeh Ondeh for tea this afternoon. Well, she did not actually said Ondeh Ondeh, but rather 'the round green kueh which pops in the mouth'. Although I am still nursing a sore shoulder from trying too hard on Shaun T's Insanity Workout (a woman gotta do what a woman gotta do, ya know!), I obliged as it is not at all tedious.

I mainly used pandan juice and glutinous rice flour for the dough. No artificial green colouring was used for this particular one. Just the natural colour of the pandan leaves. Also, no exact measurement of the ingredients were used. I agak2 je la...knead till you can form a smooth pliable dough. I steamed the grated coconut with a pinch of salt before rolling the boiled kueh onto it. And the gula melaka fillings has to be a lot...baru yummmssss...oozes out as it pops in your mouth!

Arrrgghh!!! I am so going to bed early tonight...with koyok, yoko-yoko on the sore shoulder. Ciao babehs!

xoxo

Apam Beras Gula Merah

This morning was my 9 year old son's school Sukaneka and mommy made some Apam Gula Merah for the other mommies in attendance. Mommy made them late last night before bed time and steam the grated coconut early this morning. There were food contributions from others like chocolate muffins, chocolate cakes, brownies, fancy cuppies, meant for the little ones but this Mak Nenek mommy decided to bring some kampung style breakfast, Apam Gula Merah!

It was a hit with the 'bigger ones'. Light and spongy and went very well with Kopi O kaw! And one of the mommies asked if I do those colourful ones too! She wants pink, yellow, green and whites for a kenduri next Thursday. *grins*

I personally prefer this recipe as it does not call for tapai nasi as one of its ingredients. Tapai nasi is not easy to do (spoiler: Author doesn't know how to do!). Some apam recipes require Eno and again, I don't like the 'sulphuric' taste/smell of Eno. Yeah, I'm that fussy. Oh, this is also good with leftover sambal tumis udang...yummmsss...

So, for those of you who are as fussy as me, here is the simpler version of Apam Beras (Gula Merah):

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice
2 1/2 cups of water
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups sugar

*Blend all the above till smooth

2 cups of rice flour
2 cups of plain flour
1 tsp of yeast

• Mix the above together and pour in the blended mixture and stir them thoroughly until light and smooth.
•  Cover and leave for 3-4 hours.
• When ready, pour into small cups and steam over high heat for 15-20 mins.

For the grated coconut, simply add salt to taste and steam for 15 mins. (Sorry, I normally 'agak2' je :D)

Lemme know how it goes for you ya....Selamat Mencuba!

Mee Rebus Johor

It is not easy to get your hands on a bowl of good old Mee Rebus Johor, here in Kuala Lumpur dan kawasan2 sekitarnye! Last Sunday, I ventured in to Kampung Bahru in search of a nice Mee Rebus Johor. I decided to settle with a 24hour kedai kopi claiming they serve this. It was nothing like it. Tipah teripu!!! The gravy was thin and super sweet. Mak Nenek almost choked with anger. The next day, I decided to cook it my own. The good old style. Knowing my 2 monsters don't really like this particular dish, I made just enough for dinner. Suke ke tak suke kene makan gak la kan? Mummy dah masak. [Mummy yang nak makan sangat sebenarnye]

Tengok gambar tu...Slurrppsss...kan????

I didn't have beef rump then, which is best for this dish. I used whatever there was in the freezer [heh, my style of cooking!] It turned out pretty well. 

For Singaporeans and Johoreans in KL who are craving for the original Mee Rebus Johor, here is the recipe to try. Lemme know if you liked it too. :)

Ingredients to blend:~

• 2 large red onions
• 15 bulbs of shallots
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 inch of ginger
• 3/4 cup curry powder

Other ingredients:~

• 250gm beef (beef rump is best), cut into small pieces & boiled till tender. Keep the stock
• 1 handful prawns, trim the legs
• 2 tbsp fermented soya beans (tauchu)
• 3 inch galangal, bruised
• 5 stalks of lemongrass, bruised
• 3 medium sized sweet potatoes
• 2 large potatoes, boiled & coarsely mashed
• 2 cups coconut milk
• salt

~Method~

1. Heat oil in a large deep pot. Sautee’ the blended ingredients till the oil separates.
2. Put in the beef as well as the stock.
3. As it boils, throw in the galangal, lemongrass and salt.
4. Finally, pour in the coconut milk, tauchu, sweet potato & potato.
5. As the gravy thickens, drop in the prawns.
6. Salt to taste

Mee Rebus Johor is usually served with the following condiments: prawn fritters, deep fried tofu (cubed), beansprouts (scalded), Chinese celery and spring onions (sliced), green chillies (sliced), lime and fried shallots.

Prawn Fritters:~

• 1 ¼ cup rice flour
• 1 cup thick coconut milk
• 2 cups fresh small prawns
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• Oil for frying

Blended & Ground Ingredients:~

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp fennel
• 8 shallots
• 3 garlic
• a little tumeric if you'd prefer

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok on medium heat.
2. Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Fry in drips till brown and crispy. It can be stored in an airtight container when cool.

Enjoy :))

Kueh Talam Pandan

This is an all-time favourite. Easy peasy to make too. I cheated on the pandan part though. Did not have enough pandan leaves so had to settle on the artificial pandan flavouring and added a few drops of green food colouring. My advice, use the natural ones if possible! I didn't quite like the taste of the pandan flavouring that comes in a bottle. 

I'm having some friends over for after dinner kopi2 mak nenek session now. We are going to have these, some curry puffs I made and another mak nenek bringing over bubur kacang hijau with durians. Yumssss...I swear that I will run for an extra 20 mins on the treadmill tomorrow morning. [Yeah right!]

Ciao babehs! Mak Nenek gotta put the kettle on now...

Updated: A few sweethearts requested for this particular recipe. So here it is! Would love to hear your comments/feedbacks on this recipe. Selamat mencuba!

• LOWER LAYER (PANDAN LAYER):*
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 1/4 cups rice flour
• 1/3 cups plain flour
• 5 1/2 cwn pandan juice (10 helai daun pandan)
• 1 1/2 tbs alkaline water (air kapur)

• UPPER LAYER (COCONUT LAYER):**
• 1/3 cups rice flour
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 4 tbsp corn flour
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Mix well all ingredients in *. 
2. Cook over low heat till sugar dissolves.
3. Pour into greased mould and steam over medium heat for 15-20 mins.
4. Do the same to ingredients in **. Pour onto the first layer and steam again for another 15-20mins.
5. Let it cool thoroughly before serving.

Senang kan???? Cuba la..jangan lupe share experience tau... tata