Award : Beautiful Site

This is truly an honour in which I humbly accept, altho I know a lot of my peers out there are really the more deserving ones. Nontheless, I thank VG again, for this and also, I must say it's beautiful and I highly appreciate it. Thank u, dear!

Food lovers of the World - Unite!

Chilli Crab

My youngest daughter have been asking for this for a long , long time...and so, just to reward her for spending so much time on her Robotics, I finally made these for her...and the rest of the family gobbled up too..!
This recipe is for 4.

Ingredients

8 crabs - cleaned

To be grounded

40 dried chillies, soaked to soften
5 onions
6 cloves of garlic
2 inches ginger
2 inches galangal/blue ginger
2 tbsp belacan
5 candlenuts
2 stalks of lemongrass

8 cups of water
1/2 cup of tamarind juice
1/2 cup sugar
salt to taste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chilli sauce
4 eggs
1/4 cup of corstarch solution (instead of cornflour, I used potato flour)
sprigs of fresh coriander

Heat abt 1 and 1/2 cup of oil in wok. Saute ground ingredients till chilli is cooked and fragrant. Add water, tamarind juice,sugar,tomato and chilli sauce,salt. Cook to a rapid boil. When boiling, add crabs. When cooked, break in the eggs and add the solution. Stir and when gravy has thickened, remove from heat and serve with crusty french bread. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander.

Award : A Bear Hug from VG

Thank you beary beary much for the hug , VG,...and for yr info, teddy bears are my no.1 favourite plush toy..and my dearest ones are called Chubby and Russ.

Coconut Crisps

The cookies are refreshing as it is especially when there's nothing in the cookie jar!..and during the hunger pangs in the middle of the nite..
A heartfelt thanks to my dearest mate from downunder, VG..got this from her..u may browse here and just a reminder, the dough may be soft. U may add flour or chill the dough before shaping it..but whatever it may be, this is a good sweet nostalgic taste for me, with the coconut touch..

Brilliante Weblog Award

An award from Aishah. THANK U dear!..but I don't know what is it for..Brilliant?,..well, I do hope I am (at times),..hehe..still, I humbly accept with thanks...

Onde - Onde Labu

Pumpkin Balls with Sweet Stuffing in Shredded Coconut

I had pandan and sweet potato onde-onde. This time, I'm using pumpkin.
Great as a teatime snack.
For this recipe , I get abt 20.

Ingredients

abt 350g pumpkin, boiled, drained and mashed
200g glutinous rice flour
50g tapioca flour
1 tbsp ghee

1 block of gula melaka/palm sugar - slivered

The Coconut



abt 2 cups of grated coconut (without skin)
Steam the coconut with a pandan leaf for a few minutes. Add abt a tsp of salt and mix evenly.

Mix pumpkin flesh, both flour and ghee and work into a nice smooth dough. Add water if it's too dry or add more flour if it's too wet. Make a small ball, thumb a hole in the centre, insert some slivered palm sugar, pinch dough back together and roll back into a ball.



In a pot of boiling water with a knotted pandan leaf, slide the balls and boil them. They will float once they're cooked.



Drain out excess water and immediately dump into the steamed coconut. Roll until it's fully coated. Serve.

Asam Pedas Peranakan

I saw this on tv once and they said it was a Peranakan Style. Ok,...so I decided to give it a try...verdict?..whatever version u may call it..if it's Asam Pedas , it's still finger lickin gooood..

Ingredients

Spanich Mackerel or Red Snapper or any fish of yr choice

Blend the following:

30 dried red chillies - soaked to soften
6 cloves of garlic
2 inches of ginger
1 lemongrass
6 candlenuts (buah keras)
1 tbsp belacan
1 inch of fresh tumeric
3 big onions

a few sprigs of thai basil
1 torch ginger bud (halved) - bunga kantan in Malay (as seen in the picture)
1 brinjal, wedged
4-5 ladies' finger
1 tomato, wedged
a fistful of tamarind, mixed with water to obtain abt 4 cups of juice
salt and sugar to taste

Heat abt 1/2 cup of oil in pot. Saute the ground ingredients till chilli is cooked and fragrant. Take yr time. Add the tamarind juice, add more water for more gravy. When boiling, add ginger bud, thai basil, brinjal, ladies finger, fish and some salt and sugar. When cooked, turn off heat and dump in the tomato wedges. Serve.

Nasi Ayam

Chicken Rice.

Millions of version. You choose one. I choose this cause I cooked this when my husband's family came over to my house for a 'getting-to-know' session 16 years ago...u know what I mean...I was single then and maybe they wanted to know if their future in-law knows how to cook!..well I think they were in for a real treat..

Please browse below for the recipe. Like I said, this is MY version..

The Soup
The Rice
The Chicken
The Veggie (Chap Chye)
The Chilli

The Soup

Ingredients

10 cups of water
2 cubes of chicken granules
2 inches of ginger - bruised
5 cloves of garlic - bruised
2 onions - wedged
1 carrot - sliced thickly
3 celery - sliced thickly
2 pandan leaves - tied to a knot
salt to taste
1 whole (cleaned) chicken , with skin
some extra chicken wings - for the hunger pangs later...hehe

Dump all of the above in a large pot. Bring to a boil under medium heat to extract the essence of the chicken into the soup. Add more salt if u thick it's too bland or more water if too salty. When chicken is boiled/cooked, remove and hang or drain to dry them out of the soup. Set aside to roast them later. You have the base soup already!You will need the soup to cook the rice with and also to make the chilli sauce.

Serve hot, with some coriander leaves and a sprinkling of fried shallots.

The Rice

Ingredients
6 cups of uncooked rice, washed and drained

3 cloves of garlic - minced finely
1 shallot - minced finely
2 inches of ginger - bruised
1 cinnamon bark
2 star anise
2 cardamoms
2 screwpine (pandan) leaves - tied in a knot
Enough Soup to cook rice with.

Heat abt 2 tbsp of oil plus a few dashes of sesame oil in a wok. Saute the cinnamon bark, star anise, cardamoms, garlic, shallots and ginger till fragrant. Take care not the burn the garlic. Add pandan leaves. Then add in the rice. Stir and coat rice with the aromatic oil. Remove from heat and pour into your rice cooker. Add sufficient Soup to cook your rice as according to yr pot measurement plus a cup of extra soup to make sure the rice has enough soup to absorb. Cook rice in the cooker as u normally would. When cooked, give it a stir, remove pandan leaves and the aromatic spices (that u can see...hehe)

The Chicken

Ingredients

The chicken which has been boiled in the soup

1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground tumeric
1 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

Mix the above thoroughly in a bowl. Smother the chicken (which has been drained off) with the paste. Set aside for abt 30 mins. Arrange on a baking dish lined with alum foil. In a preheated 220 degrees oven, slide the baking dish/tray in. Baste with some soft butter every 10 mins or so to keep it moist. When skin has turned to a nice colour, abt 20 - 25 mins (depending on yr oven),take the chicken out. Cover the whole tray with alum foil for 10 mins.This is to let it rest so the regurgitated juice has the time to seep in back into the flesh again. Cut as desired.

Chap Chye

Ingredients

some cauliflower
some snap peas
some broccoli
some shitake mushrooms
a fishcake - sliced
red or green capsicum
some carrot slices
3 cloves of garlic - sliced
1 onion - wedged
1 red chilli - sliced
1 tbsp of light soya sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
sugar to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 cup water
cornstarch solution (abt a few tbsp)

Heat abt 1 tbsp of oil plus a few dashes of sesame oil. Saute the onions, garlic and chilli till fragrant. Add the veggie and stir. Add the rest of the seasoning. Add some water for a little gravy and u can also add some cornstarch solution at the end to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

The Chilli

Ingredients

6-7 red chillies - add more if u want it more spicy
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of sugar
salt to taste
1 and 1/2 cup of The Soup
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp of vinegar

Blend the above in a food processor. Cook in a pot over a medium heat till chilli is cooked and has reduced to a thicker consistency.

08.08.08

a few little announcements:


1) BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 = SUPERB OPENING CEREMONY

2) HAPPY 43RD NATIONAL DAY SINGAPORE!

Bubur Kacang Hijau

Green Bean Dessert

Ok..let me get this straight..after viewing some of the other blogs, I noticed that this dish was quite in demand..it popped up from almost everyone, in addition to the abundance of the Durian...suddenly, it's Bubur Kacang Durian everywhere..but not in mine..

Why?..here's an embarrassing confession : I don't take durian..(blushing)..I'm sure most of u will find it funny or "yek elleey...tak makan duyan!"..or somethin like that but seriously, I don't take it. It has never been my favourite fruit. Maybe I don't like fruits which are not juicy. I find durian to be creamy in texture...and I find myself very thirsty after eating it. So, I placed Durian out of my fave list.Back then, whenever my family bought a whole load of them, I would sit in a corner with a consolation bag of mangosteen...yup...mangosteen...even now, I won't eat it..if it's found in the bubur kacang, I would comb away the flesh and just try to spoon the liquid. But the funny part?..I would eat durian puff, durian icecream and keropok durian...hehe...but I just WON'T EAT THE FRUIT ON ITS OWN...(please - don't hate me..I'm just being honest.)

Well..enuff abt that already...this simple dessert doesn't really require a recipe, does it?..I'm sure u guys out there have your own version...Anyway, I made this when I stumbled upon a packet of green beans while clearing up my cluttered pantry..I don't even remember when in the world did I buy this..hehe*wink*

Creative Blogger Award

Another award, from good buddy Jun Yummylicious.. Thank you thank you thank you, altho I'm wondering am I really a "creative" blogger. Still, Thank you.



I feel English Cottage-ish..*smile*

Anyway,..I'm passing the award along to...

Abg Rozzan
Emil
Aishah
Katak Ayu
Kak Ummi
Ratna

pass pass la yea..

Pineapple UpsideDown Cake

mmm...suddenly felt like eating this..I have this bad habit of craving for food after a fever or something like that...very negative?..well I thought that the POSITIVE part is when I DO make a comeback to the kitchen...time and again...so...it's a win-win situation...(at least for me *smile*)..

I know they have lots of version for this teatime treat..but I guess I just made a simple one, very small, which I think is enuff for my little family....

(but u know what?...it's not!...hehe)

Ingredients

1 can of pineapple rings - cut a few into wedges, to decorate accordingly to your pan.
some glace red and green cherries.

for the caramel crust:

50g softened butter
50g light brown sugar
Beat the above until creamy, then spread onto the base and sides of an 8-inch round pan.(I used a flower pan)

Arrange the pineapple creatively in the pan which has been spread with the caramel crust. Insert a cherry in between the pineapples.

for the CAKE:

100g softened butter
100g of castor sugar (if u don't have a sweet tooth,80g should be enuff)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence OR pineapple essence
120g of cake flour - sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder - sifted
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda - sifted
pinch of salt (if your butter is unsalted)
2 tbsp of pineapple syrup from the can (this is optional)

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs and essence. Mix until well incorporated. Add in the sifted flour,baking powder and soda. Fold in till u have a nice batter. Drop the batter by the spoonful, slowly over the arranged pineapple and cherry slices. U don't want to move their positions. When all the batter has been poured, level the top nicely with the back of a spoon or spatula.

Bake in a preheated 175 - 180 degrees oven (switch off the fan)for abt 35 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan for 5 mins on a wire rack before inverting over on a plate. Best served warm,with a dollop of ice cream. Enjoy!