Best Recipes

Of claypot briyani and badam milk

Lilian — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:28:40 PDT

I am sooo full, I regret eating. So, let me see if I can ease my indigestion by blogging about the dinner I just had about three hours ago. It is already three hours and I am still choking with badam milk and mutton briyani. Regret, regret, regret.

Initially, we went to Chulia Street (I think) because we wanted to try the kari itik nila from Kassim Mustafa. However, I found that they only sell on Saturday and Sunday. Lawrence told me the duck curry is good but I must go around 8 pm or they will be sold out the moment they take out the dish.

Since there is no duck curry, hubby suggested Kapitan because he said the Kapitan in Bandar Perda, Butterworth has mixed grill with its naan. However, the Kapitan here only have tandoori chicken. So, I ordered the item most advertised, i.e. claypot briyani. I am never a fan of flavoured rice like nasi minyak, nasi lemak, nasi briyani or anything kind which has its own taste because I find that too filling. The rice is not even served in any claypot but a metal container like a cake tin.

Meanwhile, my son ordered the tandoori chicken set with butter naan. I prefer the tandoori at Kassim Mustafa in Jalan Burmah.

They have a pullcart selling badam milk. I like badam milk or almond milk. However, the one at Kapitan is soo thick, so rich and full of cashew nuts, raisins and don’t know what skin, like foo chook (soyabean skin) it made me sooo full. Adoi lah…I hope I don’t develop lactose intolerance and squirm on the floor tonight. Sometimes, if I eat some wrong kind of foods, I can get tummy ache so severe, I can faint. The badam milk is rather nice. But not to be drank with a rich meal like briyani mutton or else you will suffer like a python which had swallowed an animal ten times its’ size.

The pushcart which prepares all kind of healthy drinks like Milo with raw egg, tongkat ali tea and don’t know what kind of ’strengthening coffee’.

Kapitan does not serve the tastiest foods but they have a wide range of things not found at other mamak stalls. They have a few outlets in Penang and one of them is at Gurney Hotel at Gurney Tower, next to Starbucks. The one I ate is at Chulia Street, Penang.

Now, I have to find a way to get my food digested or else I can’t sleep. How?

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Apple and potato salad for 150 pax

Lilian — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:45:40 PDT

Teens hate greens. Most of them do. So, I decided to make a salad out of apples and potatoes. When I dished them out, some were rather cautious about taking salads. But when I told them these are potatoes and apples, they immediately grab their share.

The tricky part about making salad is to make sure the things are really cold and remains cold until serving time because mayonnaise turns bad easily.

I used the recipe given by one of my readers and it was rather easy to manage except that I forget that it is a chore to peel 20 apples and making sure they remain fresh and not turn an ugly brown mess. I also did not anticipate how long 3 kilograms of potatoes take to cook. After that, I was in a dilemma on how to mix my salad because the portions were huge. Really, really huge.

Lucky I have two baking trays that fit into my oven. I had to get down to mix them with my palms, after washing umpteen times to make sure they are bacterias free.

So, here are what I used for a huge portion of salads :

10 green granny smith apples – peel, cubed and bathed in salt water, then store in fridge

10 red fuji apples – method same as above

3 kilograms of USA potatoes (because they are floury) – washed clean, boiled and then, peeled and cubes – store in fridge too

1 large tub of raisins

3 cans of Green giant sweet corn – drained

I used an industrial size Heinz mayonnaise. This is the type supplied to hotels and restaurants and I think it is about 1 kilogram or even more.

I flavoured the mayo with some salt, sugar, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar and fresh dill.

After mixing all of the above together, I stored the salad in thick, stainless pot in the freezer for about 20 minutes. I brought the pots and casseroles of salad to church and they remain cold even after an hour wait (due to our mass).

For colours, I added the dill and some green and red peppers. Only add these at serving time because peppers tend to spoil fast.

Pasta and salad are good combinations. If you like you can add boiled pastas to the salad as well.

Someone asked me about the brand of pasta sauce I bought. The can is in the second picture. It is another ‘industrial size’ can. They have sauces for pizza, pasta and other dishes, all in different flavours.

To get to Lucky Frozen Foods, you can access it through the road just before PSDC in Bayan Baru, go straight and I think the road is the third on your right. It is a godown, very much like a factory. But they do cater to walk in clients. However, their foods are sold in bulk in kilograms and huge quantities. I am giving them free publicity but I do recommend them if you are cooking in bulk because the food qualities/brands are hotel standard but still very cheap compared to hypermarkets.

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Who wants to have lunch at KDU?

Lilian — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:31:25 PDT

I am helping my son’s coursemates to promote a bit.

This coming Friday and Saturday, we will be having back-to-back 2 Set Lunch to cook and serve..
The problem is, how are we going to find 60 people for the both days?
So, if you are kind enough.. We really need a hand here..

Come and Dine in @ KDU Bon Appetit on 19/06/2009 & 20/06/09! (Penang)
The time is from 12pm to 2.00pm..

For the foods we are going to serve and their prices, I will update on this coming Monday when I got the recipe sheets from my chef..

If you want to go for the lunch, do check Suithong’s blog and mail/drop comment for him to contact you.

Usually, for the price you pay, it is very worth eating. But sometimes, there are clinches here and there, so I cannot guarantee a totally perfect meal. Hey, it is usually RM13-RM14 for free flow of orange squash, appetitizer or soup, main dish and dessert. So, cannot complain lah.

I had lunch there today. Above is my son and I. He is in his second year in Professional Chef. Diploma only, must go to Switzerland or other countries for the degree.

All the kids there.

The fish and pilaf.

The smoked salmon appetizer.

The dessert.

Go, go, go….support these students. They need to sell all the coupons. Check out suithong’s blog for details.

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Just random desserts, chocolates, sweets and other foods photos

Lilian — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:56:07 PDT

Here is the slideshow of the photos I stored on Flickr. The set is for desserts and sweets. You can sit and watch for hours and it will never end. It only makes you hungry.

Enjoy.

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The day I cooked pasta and prepared salad for 150 people, single-handedly

Lilian — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:11:05 PDT

I know I have not been updating much. I was so caught up with many things, I sometimes forget and skipped a meal. As a result, a few of my jeans are now looser. It is a good thing, come to think of it.

Last week, I attempted and successfully accomplished cooking for 150 people. There are other types of foods like sandwiches, curry puffs and fried Malay meehoon and mee. But the pasta I prepared saved the day.

It is a crazy idea, that I cook 10 packets of pasta. That’s five kilograms of dried pasta, you know? It is no joke and one shouldn’t attempt doing so unless one is absolutely sure they can managed. You see, by the fourth packets, I had ran out of space to fill the boiled pasta. I summoned all the big pots I have and managed to boil only six packets. There is no way I can boil the other four packets and I estimated I won’t have enough pasta sauce to go with it.

So, just to keep some notes for future reference, these are the ingredients :

ELBOW SHAPES PASTA WITH TOMATO AND BASIL PASTA SAUCE

6 packets of 500 grams San Remo elbow shapes dried pasta – Boiled two packets at one go. Remove, strain and mix with some olive oil. Set aside.

3 roasted chicken (buy from Tesco) – Tear the meat into small pieces. Keep the bones for making stock.

1 large tin (and I mean really large) of pasta sauce. Bought from Lucky Frozen food supplier and it costs only RM21.50

3 tins of pre-sliced button mushrooms

5 large onions

1 large bottle of tomato ketchup

Some oil, some pepper, salt and whatever sauces on hand

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Cooking in large batches and serving to hundreds of people mean we must be absolutely hygenic. No dirty hands, no dirty cutting board, make sure all the foods are cooked thoroughly, never leave the foods in a warm temperature and make sure the foods doesn’t stand in room temperature for too long.

I started boiling all the pastas in batches at only at 2 pm and got things ready by 5 pm. Note that I used the shortcut of buying fresh roasted chicken from Tesco which was hot out of the oven.

I am borrowing the photo of Boris (a youth from my church) who was feeding his brother to grace this post. It is very rewarding to cook for large groups because the feelings of looking at so many people eating the foods I cooked gives me a fuzzy feelings inside.

I will put the recipe for the apple and potato salad I made in another post.

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