Tahu Goreng

Deepfried Beancurd with Spicy Peanut Sauce

MMmmm.... I made this after I got tired of the usual menu spread of rice..NO..let me rephrase that...I DIDN'T get tired...I was thinking of a little change,...so I decided that we shall go meatless for a day... Still , this is superb! (if I can say so myself)

Ingredients

4 Large beancurds - deepfried, cut into cubes
1 cucumber - peeled, and shredded into long strips
1 carrot - peeled and shredded into long strips
some beansprouts - scalded

For the Sauce

10 cloves of garlic(best roasted lightly)
12 cili padi (bird's eye chilli)
2 tbsp vinegar or apple cider or lime juice
3/4 cup of palm sugar (gula melaka)- melted
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup of soya sauce(kicap)

1 and 1/2 cup of coursely ground roasted peanuts

Grind the sauce ingredients till fine and mix together. Add in the peanuts and mix well. Pour over freshly hot fried beancurd cubes and top with the cooling cucumber and carrot strips with crunchy lightly scalded beansprouts.

Oh..baby...simply...delicious!...

Nutty Pumpkin Cake

Trust me when I say that I made this to get rid of the pumpkin sitting in the fridge. Best sure-fire way?...turn it into a teatime centrepiece!..or in my case,...with hot coffee for a lazy evening delight....I repeat, best consumed with yr favourite hot beverage...sweet pumpkin, meet yr doom!..hehe

Ingredients

150g butter
150g castor sugar
50g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
250g pumpkin, steamed and mashed

Sieve together the following :-

250g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon powder (I used a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)

100g walnuts or any nuts of yr choice, toasted and chopped


Beat butter,castor sugar,icing sugar and vanilla till light n creamy. Gradually add beaten egg and mix well. Add in the mashed pumpkin.
Fold in the sieved ingredients,plus the nuts and pour the mixture into a greased and lined 9-inch round cake tin. Bake in a preheated 170 degrees oven for abt 45 to 50 mins or till a caketester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the Topping

2 tbsp butter
50g light brown sugar
3 tbsp fresh milk
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
100g sifted icing sugar

some toasted nuts or strawberries for decoration

Combine all the topping ingredients (excluding the nuts/strawberries) in a saucepan and stir over low heat. Stir till butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Spread over the warm cake and sprinkle sides with the nuts and decorate as u wish..

Get ready to tip the scale!

Crabby Roll

I made these as a snack but it ended up as dinner as it's laden with so much protein....I felt full in no time!

Filling

10 crabsticks, diced
4 frankfurters, diced
3 eggs, separately moist-scrambled
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 red chillies, de-seed and sliced finely
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp sweet n sour sauce

Heat abt 2 tbsp of oil in wok and saute the garlic, chillies and shallot. When fragrant, add in the diced items and the eggs. Stirfry quickly, season with salt and pepper and add the sauce. Stir till cooked. Remove from heat and drain over a colander to rid of excess oil, if any. Cool the filling before rolling up in popiah skin, just like how u would in my Veggie Roll.

Serve with chilli sauce.

Cereal Prawns

NOTE:
Generally, this is a rather dry, crispy dish but I like to make mine a little MOIST as I love to take my time to nibble and 'suck' the sweet aromatic succulent juice from the prawns, skin and all. Hey...it's yr choice!.

Ingredients

1 kg prawns - I just make a slit along the back to devein, leaving shells intact.U may want to dip them into beaten egg and dredge them in cornflour b4 deep-frying to get a crispier texture. I didn't.

2 tbsp butter
5 bird's eye chillies (cili padi) roughly chopped
1 egg yolk lightly beaten ( I added the white too )
15 or so of curry leaves
1 and 1/2 cup of Nestum cereal mixed with 1 tbsp of milk powder
salt
sugar

Heat the wok and add in the butter. When melted, add in the chillies and curry leaves. Saute till fragrant, before adding the cereal mix. Stirfry for a while and slide in the prawns, coating them. Adding the eggs at this time is entirely OPTIONAL. I did. Add abt a tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar to taste. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Chicken Curry - Egg Salad - Veggie StirFry

Initially I was planning to make Roti Kirai to go along with the dishes - but somehow,...I became too lazy to cook anymore...So I ended up eating these with plain rice and bread...hey!...that's fine too!,..and who said that we can't succumb to laziness?......hehe..



Use this recipe for any kind of veggie stirfry..u won't go wrong..just remember never to overcook the vegg. For this, I used celery, carrots, mushrooms, capsicum, broccoli, and u can add anything u want,...just make it colourful.



The Chicken Curry:
U can use my Ayam Kariana for this recipe...mmm..thick and spicy..



For the egg salad with peanut sauce :

Hard-boiled eggs - sliced neatly with an egg-slicer
Cucumber - skinned, raked with fork and sliced thickly
Tomatoes - sliced thickly
Onions - sliced into rings
Some lettuce/daun salad

The Peanut Sauce

12 dried chillies - soaked to soften
2 cloves of garlic
Grind the above till fine

3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp vinegar
1 potato (or sweet potato) - boiled and pushed through a sieve.
salt to taste

1/2 to 3/4 cup of coursely ground-roasted-skinned peanuts

In a saucepan, put chilli-garlic paste, brown sugar, water, salt and tomato puree and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the mashed potato and vinegar. Reduce heat and continue stirring all the time till thick. Add the ground peanuts, stir and remove from heat.Season with a little salt. If using sweet potato, reduce the amount of sugar.

Saujana Seafood Set

Was inspired to cook this set after a visit to Saujana in Johore after my Melaka trip. Unfortunately, for some reason, I can't find any seabass today and so decided to skip Ikan Tiga Rasa...had Sweet Sour Fish instead..anyway,..the kids loved it and so do I...only setback was, I can only eat a little coz I have this condition - I can't eat much when I'm tired!....*smile*



The fried rice is quite similar to the Nasi Goreng Ananas in my previous entry.....just omit the pineapples and use a combi of veg oil plus a little sesame oil for sauteing..



For this kailan, I added sliced fishcakes.

A handful of baby kailan
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
1 red chilli - sliced
1 small shallot (small onion)- sliced thinly
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste, as the oyster sauce is already salty

Boil some water in a pot.Add some salt and 1 tsp of oil. Blanch veggie for a couple of minutes. Prepare a bowl of ice cold water in the meantime.Take out veggie and dunk into the bowl to stop the cooking process. U'll get a nice green colour without overcooking yr veg. Drain well.
Next,in a wok,heat 1 tbsp of oil,mixed with a few good dashes of sesame oil. The combi of oil will produce a glaze effect on the veg later. Saute onion,garlic,chilli and add the oyster sauce.Pour a little bit of water to mix.Add some sugar and salt.Simmer till boiling,then then turn off heat. If sauce is too dilute,u may add some cornflour solution (1 dsp cornflour + 1/4 cup of water )to thicken it.Arrange veg on a plate and pour sauce over...eat it hot!



Similar to the soup in my Tom Yam Noodle...just add in any 'protein' seafood u want..



Ingredients

1kg battered fish slices - fried, and put aside

The sauce :

1 cup chilli sauce
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup sweet sour sauce
2 tbsp plum sauce
3 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
salt to taste

2 onions - wedges
a few slices of ginger
2 cloves of garlic - finely minced
1/2 green capsicum - cubed
1/2 red capsicum - cubed
1/2 yellow capsicum - cubeb
1/4 cup of finely cubed pineapple

1 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp sesame oil

Heat the oil combi and saute the onions,garlic,ginger and add all the capsicums and pineapple. Don't burn the aromatics. Add the sauce ingredients. If it's too thick, add some water till u get the consistency u want. Avoid making it too dilute. Taste and adjust accordingly. It shud taste spicy , sweet and sour all in one. Add whatever that is lacking. Pour over fried fish slices when u are abt to serve to prevent sogginess.

Mee Rebus Sally

i made this entry once before...i think it's this one..
one thing that made me go for this particular verion is the abundance of succulent beef and the hefty serving of condiments accompanying it....you're filled to the brim...

I spent my new year eating this for the whole day..



the noodles and the bean sprouts - blanched briefly..



the thick gravy with a mighty load of beef..



the condiments... comprising of..(from top-left) fried shallots, potato cutlets , fried beancurd, fried tempe, lime, eggs, fish fingers, red/green chillies, chopped parsley, fried chicken drumlets..whoa..



the end result....heavier than a big mac..

Cupcakes for Farah Alisha

Nisa's daughter is 6 yrs old and i got the order for cupcakes....so made them with yellow and strawberry cake base with crusting buttercream frosting of pink and white theme....

Browniana Brownies

Made these sometime back...forgotten when...but not too long ago..one is frosted with dark chocolate n hearts and the other one is white chocolate with dark chocolate stripes...the brownies are packed with chopped walnuts and chocolate chips...sinfully wicked...

oh..by the way...i sell them...

thankfully, NorShirin loved them...(thanks dear!)

Spicy Fried Macaroni

well....had some leftover boiled macaroni from the previous entry....so i thot maybe this time i'll just fry it..at least it won't be wasted...

Ingredients

boiled macaroni
250g minced beef - fried over a dry wok with a few dashes of pepper
some crabsticks
1 cup of mixed frozen veggie - thawed
3 eggs - slightly beaten
fried shallots
chopped spring onions and chinese parsley

To be blended:-

10 dried chillies - soaked to soften
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp dried shrimps - soaked to soften
a pinch of shrimp paste (belacan)
2 tbsp of chilli sauce
2 tbsp of tomato sauce

Mix the above till u get a thick paste

Method

Heat abt 1/4 cup of oil in a wok. Saute the blended ingredients till fragrant and cooked. Add the minced beef and crabsticks. Stir. Add in beaten eggs. Finally, add in the macaroni and the mixed veggie and give it a good fry. Sprinkle with a little water if it's too dry. Serve hot, with garnishing.

Chicken Macaroni Soup... for the Soul

2nd daughter is down with fever and I decided to make some soup to whet her appetite. Don't feel like having rice as well, hence, the macaroni. Hubby hates pasta but he'll agree to the soup...So I'm safe...

Ingredients

1 packet of macaroni - cooked to al dente
1 whole chicken - cut into 12 pcs, skinned of excess fat
4 medium potatoes - peeled and cubed
4 carrots - peeled and cubed
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
3 cloves
salt
pepper

Soup Base (to be blended)

3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
an inch of ginger
2 pcs of knorr/maggi chicken cubes
6 tbsp of soto spice mix

mix the above with a little water to form a thick paste

Garnishing

fried shallots
spring onions (chopped)
chinese parsley (chopped)

method :
Heat abt 1/2 cup of oil. Thrown in cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves. Stir for a few secs and then add in soup base paste. Saute till fragrant and cooked. Stir in the chicken, potatoes and carrots. Add sufficent water to cover and make sure it's a little dilute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer till chicken is cooked and tender.

To serve, place macaroni in a bowl. Pour over soup with chicken pieces and sprinkle with a garnishing of fried shallots and chopped greens....and THAT....is comfort food for the sick...

Orange Vanillin Tang Yuan

Closely related to the traditional chinese dessert of glutinous rice balls in sweet fragrant soup. U can choose to fill the balls with red bean paste but its ok to leave it blank as it is as the soup base is already sweet. The balls will be chewy and this will be the contrast texture against the smooth syrup.

Balls

300g orange vanillin glutinous rice flour
1 cup of water

mix together in a bowl with your hands and knead until it's pliable enough to work it into a dough. If it's too dry and crumbly, wet yr hands a little at a time until u get a workable texture. If it's too wet, add a little bit more glutinous rice flour. Shape into little small balls and set aside.

(if u can't find orange vanillin glutinous rice flour, just mix 300g glutinous rice flour, 2 tsp vanillin powder, 1/2 tsp orange zest and add 1/2 tsp of orange essence to the 1 cup of water)



Boil enough water in a pot. Drop the raw balls into the rapidly boiling water and let it cook approx 10 mins. The balls will float to the surface when it's cooked. Scoop out and dunk into cold water. This is to prevent them from sticking to one another. U will notice it will sink when placed into the cold water. This is normal.

Sweet Soup

Meanwhile, throw the water away from the pot and boil another 8 cups of water with 4 or 5 cups of sugar plus a few knots of pandan (screwpine) leaves. Adjust the sweetness according to yr preference. Add 3 slices of fresh ginger, which is optional. Omit if u don't like it. Drop the balls into the sweet soup and let them simmer for abt 5 mins b4 turning off the heat.
Serve.

Banana Demerera Muffins

Made these for breakfast today as I was feeling too lazy to scout for something and I also need to recycle my last remaining 4 bananas on the countertop.
The sprinkling of demerera sugar on top gives a crusty topping as u bite into, but, if u don't have it, ordinary white or brown sugar will do. Serve with yr favourite milk or hot beverage.

Dry Ingredients

3 cups of plain flour
2 cups castor sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
combine the above in a big bowl.


Wet Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup of veg. oil
4 mashed ripe bananas
1/2 tsp lemon juice/orange juice
2 tbsp vanilla extract
combine the above in a bowl.

some demerera/white/brown sugar for sprinkling

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix thoroughly and scoop into muffin tins lined with paper cases. Fill 3/4 full. Sprinkle the top generously with demerera sugar. Bake in a preheated 180d oven for abt 20 - 25 mins.
Cool on wire rack.

Multi-Fried Chicken with Oregano Potatoes

Made these for dinner the other night when I suddenly don't feel like having rice. Had drumsticks and wings..

Ingredients

Chicken thighs (make slashes on thick areas) and wings

Marinade :

3 tbsp of tumeric powder
1/4 cup of hot chilli sauce
1 tbsp of light soya sauce
1 tbsp of ginger powder
1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 tbsp of ground cumin
1 tbsp of ground coriander
2 tbsp of light golden syrup
salt to taste
1/4 cup of water

combine the above and marinate the chicken well, preferably a few hours. Chill to avoid contamination.
Deep fry in hot oil with medium heat till cooked. U may also fry the other parts of the chicken with a box-ready frying mix.

Oregano Potatoes

some potatoes - cut into chunks, deep fry in hot oil. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper and while still hot, sprinkle with a little salt and some dried oregano. Mix thoroughly.

To serve, add blanched broccoli and carrots as sides.

Christmas Cupcakes

These are for Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film & Media. (Hubby's Dept). A Christmas party. A chocolate moist cake with vanilla crusting buttercream. I personally loved the little christmas sugar cookies in the shapes of christmas trees, snowboys, stars and angels. Hubby's colleagues were very warm and welcoming. I was a little late (I think) delivering them and hubby was a little busy. Still, everything went well and now, my youngest girl is still munching on the extra christmas cookies that I made...

Kiddies Cupcakes

Made these for a celebrationa at Lela's house..

Aidiladha Cupcakes

hi all...and a belated eid adha..

made the above for hubby's side and brought it on the day itself..snapped up by nephews and nieces and naughty Haikel (nephew) decided to rearrange the letters to make a joke on Dali (another nephew)..and the whole gang laughed as it meant something else...*smile*...
(haikel - if u are reading this, u know what u did!) ..*spanking u on the butt*

best part?...father-in-law didn't know how to unfold the souffle cups and so, decided to dig it up using a - butter knife!..*cute*

Pink Birthday Cake

Lela's mum-in-law's Bday is on 19th Nov and it's one day after mine..*hint hint*
They ordered for a cake big enough for a few 'aunts' to 'help' during the 'cake cutting ceremony'..there wasn't any theme/colour preference except that it should be subtle enough for an elderly...nothing too fancy or funky...something to remind them of the time when we ordered our cakes from a heartland confectionery back in the early 80s....so I made this 12-inch square magnolia vanilla cake with buttercream icing..just added some white fondant flowers on the sides and my fave choc hearts on top..sweet memories..

Sweet Pink C-Cakes

Lela ordered these for her mum-in-law to complement her big bday cake. So, I guess these are for her grandkids, I suppose. The big one would be for the adults..

Bloo C-Cakes

hi people...phew..busy2 these days..meanwhile, I had an order for these minis for a 'majlis cukur rambut' for my sister's new nephew Adam Nadim. A mix of vanilla and choc fudge flavour, I initially intended to make some cookie monsters but I just don't know where my 'grass' icing tip went. Therefore I couldn't ice the fur..so I make do with little 'Bloo' from 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' instead..


The naked cakes - before frosting...