Friday, May 7, 2010

Nasi Lemak



Try this the next time u are frying yr chicken.. I was kinda of skeptical initially but let's just say the end product was.. tasty (:

I marinated 4 chicken drumsticks with 5-spice powder, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, honey & 1/2tbsp ENO. 
Marinate for at least 2hrs or overnight if u can.

For coating before frying:-
¼ cup allpurpose flour
2tbsp cornflour
1/4tbsp ENO

For dipping
1 cup milk + 1 egg


Coat seasoned drumstix with dry flour mixture, dip in egg+milk mixture, then coat once again with dry flour mixture before frying them. Remember not to fry on high heat, we don’t wanna burnt skin with undercooked meat inside. 

As for the rice, I simply cooked with 2 cups of rice, pandan leaves (shred & knotted), 150ml of coconut milk & some water. Nothing special I guess.. but at least it tasted like coconut rice :P

I kinda of got addicted to pounding my MHK chilli couple of days back & today, I made my own sambal ikan bilis. The amt of chilli is too little for my blender and, I get the kick out of pounding them with my mortar & pestle :P

I deliberately pounded them coarsely as I like the feel of having bits & pieces of chilli in my sambal. And yes, this time round, I heap up on the fiery little fellows :-D

Here’s how to go about making the sambal ikan bilis:-

Ingredients
- 1 cup of premium ikan bilis
- 1 small red onion (slice thinly)
- 1 clove garlic
- 5 shallots
- 5 big chillies + 20 chilli padis (washed & seeded. Leave some seeds, else the sambal wont be spicy).
- 1 tsp belachan
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar

Tamarind juice
- Tamarind pulp (size of a golf ball) soaked in 1 cup of water. Squeeze tamarind constantly to extract flavor. Drain & set the juice aside.

1) Wash & drain ikan bilis. Fry & set aside.
2) Pound belachan, garlic, shallots & chillies with mortar & pestle.(or u can grind them with blender)
3) Heat some oil & fry spice paste until fragrant.
4) Add in red onion & ikan bilis, mix well.
5) Add in tamarind juice, sugar & salt. Simmer on low heat till u get a thick chilli paste.

Hee.. I am a happy woman today coz I manage to make my own sambal ikan bilis which tasted quite nice lah. I refrigerated the unused portion, not sure how long it can keep though.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Mee Hoon Kuay *with homemade chilli*




MEE HOON KUAY
with homemade chilli

Thnxs to my gf Javice & Evelyn, their yummy mee hoon kuays made me wanna try cooking some at home (:

The kids had LOTSA of fun tearing the dough.. giving me all kinds of funny shapes like triangle, roundies, elongated.. etc. 
This is.. edible playdough to them :S
* those were hidden, only the non-mutated ones are in this pic :P
For the soup base, instead of plain water, I used homemade chicken broth to boil the ikan bilis & presoaked soy beans. The result was.. oomph! :P

Mee Hoon Kuay has to go with chilli & it was my maiden try on pounding my own chilli. Think i was too stingy on those fiery little fellows, my chilli did not turn out spicy enough :S 

My Mee Hoon Kuay was simple, with just meatballs & spinach drowned in wholesome soup. The soybeans were a delight though, I love them (:

Monday, May 3, 2010

老黄瓜汤


A cooling soup for the current hot humid weather (:

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes



When I am feeling lazy and need 1 more dish on the dining table.. :P

1. Scramble 3eggs & set aside.
2. Stirfry a quarter onion (cut into strips), add in 1 tomato (cut into small pieces), tomato sauce (mix with 1tsp of sugar & 1 tbsp water) & cook for about 2-3mins.
3. Add in the cooked scramble eggs & mix well. *tadah* :P

Asparagus & Fish Rolls



Ingredients
6 stalks asparagus
2tbsp cornstarch
200g fishmeat
50g pork belly
1 egg white
1/2tsp salt
2tsp ginger juice
1/2cup stock
1/2cup water

1tsp cornstarch
fewdrops sesame oil


1. Peel asparagus, rinse & cut into 6-cm sections. Scatter 1 tbsp cornstarch over it evenly.
2. Mince fish & pork belly separately before mixing them together. Combine well with egg white, salt & ginger juice till sticky. Mix in 1 tbsp cornstarch.
3. Coat asparagus with mince meat mixture.
4. Steam asparagus rolls on high heat for about 8mins.
5. Mix stock, water & cornstarch and bring to boil, add in sesame oil then drizzle on the steamed asparagus rolls.

note* 
- I usually boil a big pot of chicken stock & batch freeze them into cubes for future use. It comes in real handy for dishes that calls for stock. A whole lot healthier than using off the shelf stock cubes.
- Pork belly takes longer to mince thus mincing them separately from the fish will prevent the fish meat from getting too soggy.


Was skeptical about my kids liking this dish as asparagus by itself is a little bitter. But to my pleasant surprise, the mince fish/belly + the sauce compliments the asparagus very well, and they love it :)
I made 18 of these and they finish every piece & ask for more. A very healthy dish (- the pork belly)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Lotus Soup with Spareribs



DRAIN COVER SOUP *that's what Cay calls it :S
a.k.a lotus soup with spareribs

Plonk lotus, carrots, peanuts, blanched spareribs in a pot, add enough water to just about an inch or so above the ingredients. And add a piece of dried cuttlefish for that robust flavor.
Boil & simmer for about 3hrs.

salt? zilch. nada ^^