Foodilicious

Kabul at Sooka Sentral

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Took a detour from my usual lunch spots and together with some friends, we headed to Sooka. One of them friends suggested this place and since the rest of us had never had it before, we got curious and hungry to try....

Kabul is on the 1st floor of Sooka Sentral, right next to Kelantan Delights. A simple restaurant, nice chandeliers and lights, friendly peeps. They do delivery service too, within Sentral if I am not mistaken.

The menu is easy to read and most items in the menu are cleverly displayed - without which, those unfamiliar with the cuisine will not have an idea of how the dish looked like. I think pictorial menu is so "in" these days, as most restaurants offer so many different types of food. It is easy to browse the menu, I love all of them!

There were many patrons during the rushy lunch hour on a Friday afternoon. Well, it is Sentral afterall. Prices are average, but the portions are small, really. A bowl of lamb masala or butter chicken would have 2-4 small pieces of the meat, and some gravy, enough for one. Best to order a few different dish and share.

Above is the butter chicken. I have no idea why it is really shocking orange... but it does taste wonderfully creamy and buttery. Chicken is also soft.

Each of us ordered roomali roti (if I remember the name correctly). It is very similar to chapati, soft and thin. We ate them with the butter chicken, chicken curry, dhal, fried okras, lamb masala.

My plateful of some of the dishes. Colourful and I just could not wait to devour!

Fried okras. This is just. so. delicious!!! It has a mil curry flavour and fried with onions and dried chilis. Nothing spicy, really. Just soo flavourful and yums.

Our total bill for 4 peeps was RM77+. Plus drinks of course, I had the masala chai, the rest had mango lassi, etc... They also have fresh cows' milk to have the masala chai with!

What are your Kitchen Must Haves

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:26:00 +0000

I am soon to have a new kitchen. A more properly equipped one - that is, a real built-in oven. What are the essential must-haves in a kitchen - besides ofcourse, the basic stuffs like pots n pans and knives and ....

I need a good blender, mixer, oven-related accessories, a big pair of pot n pan, maybe some nice aprons, and a bunch of new stuffs like herbs and spices rack...

If you have any ideas and suggestions, it wod really help me design and equip the kitchen better, and perhaps save a bunch of kachinggsss on what brand to buy!

Below image from images.art.com.

Delicious, Bangsar Village II

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:24:00 +0000

Was looking forward to having Sakae Sushi but it is no longer there and was replaced by Senyu (forgot how its spelled) Sushi... What a disappointment! I was craving for the spicy tofu soup, chawamushi and sushis....

Ended up going to Delicious. Have been hearing all sort of hype about this place... so went there to witness for myself, how good this place is...

A signage said to wait to be seated. There was no one to greet us, so we went ahead in and was seated shortly by someone. Menu looked old and torn on some pages... Not that its important but it would be wise to invest in keeping your Menu Booklet clean and appealing. Very simple menus, lack of visual displays... It was hard to decide what to try but I am going with pasta - called Napolicious while F chose a lamb shank dish.

We ordered and the meals came timely. No time wasted. As it was a quick lunch, I ordered something simple. The food was ok... big portion for such price.

The Napolicious is very garlicky, and too much of pasta sauce on the plate which really drowned the pasta. It had bits of crispy bacon in it. Very creamy. I could not finish it really.

Before that, we shared a small French Onion Soup, that came with bread and cheese topping. This was nice, but the soup was not warm. Would had been nice to have a warm soup to start my lunch.

The Lamb Shank came with rice and cucumber with raita. Fairly nice dish and lamb was quite soft.

Would come again to try others on the menu offered, and maybe try a different outlet too. And recently read that E&O also has some shares in this biz thus why they also opened an outlet i. Straits Quay, Penang. Looking forward to their new chain too, Deli. :-)

Soupy Meatballs

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:49:00 +0000

:: Recipe ::

For meatballs
600gm minced meat
1/3 of a large green onion, finely chopped
1 medium egg
dash of salt & pepper
a dash of Italian herbs
dash of Worcestershire sauce

For Soup
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 green capsicum, cut into medium squares
1 medium potato, cut into small cubes
6 cherry tomatoes, halved (any tomatoes will do)
Roughly chopped green onion (I just use the balance from the above)
2 cups water
2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoon of Heinz tomato soup (or tomato sauce)
a few dash of salt & pepper

1. Prepare the meatballs by adding all the ingredients and mix well.
2. Heat up the pan with a little oil, use a large pan so you can also later cook the soup in it. The meaty flavour from the oil is not to be wasted! When it's hot enough, form small meatballs and fry them until browned.
3. Put meatballs in a separate bowl while you cook the rest of the dish.
4. Add a little oil in the pan, fry the onions until aromatic. Add water and the rest of the ingredients (except meatballs and capsicum) and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
5. Taste soup to adjust to your tastebuds... Or the water - if you prefer it soupy or thick like gravy. You can also add a little starch to thicken like gravy.
6. When you're done adjusting the soup, add the meatballs and capsicum, stir and turn the heat off.
7. Serve warm wand enjoy on its own, or with steamed rice, or even freshly toasted french loaf!

This is one of m favourite dish since a small kid, and mummy used to frequently cook it. It's very simple and does not take long to cook. Full of flavour, especially when freshly minced meat is used.

Besides the iron you get from the meat, you also get a variety of colours and vitamisn from the tomatoes, capsicum, carrot and potato. A good dish for all ages, and my one year-old also loves it!

No Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Many of my previous posts back before 2010 has posts with images that cannot be viewed - due to some error in the link. I don't know what happened, I guess flickr or blogger changed something somewhere.... and thus the said pictures cannot be viewed :-(

My apologies for that! I hope it won't happen anymore with the newer pictures!

Baby Food?

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Some of the key fruits and vegetables I frequently use in preparing my baby's food. I love to use carrots, pumpkins, broccoli, frozen peas, red spinach, potatoes, rice, pasta, chicken, fish, etc....Usually just cook 'moi' (rice porridge) for her. Sometimes pasta and potato soup. She loves them all. I hope I can also share baby recipes here ;-)

Thief!

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:38:00 +0000

This is a post to 'show off' a thief, who had, without permission whatsoever, stole my photo and exact recipe from my previous post, and put it up on her blog in this post. The printscreen really shows what she had taken from me.

How can soo many bloggers out there, just simply and easily steal other's hard work? Hey you - you thief - if you read this, I hope more and more people will talk about you! You are irresponsible! Apparently, this Asian Deli blogger HABITUALLY copy other's hardwork for her own benefits.

I hope that person will get punished rightfully. Otherwise, no worries - karma will hit ya right back.

Simple Creamy Mashed Potato

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:50:00 +0000

:: Recipe ::

2-3 russet potatoes, or any suitable potatoes
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 clove garlic
2-3 spoonfuls of cream
1 tablespoon of butter
dash of italian herbs or any fresh herbs of your choice

1. Clean and cut potatoes into a few pieces. Boil water and throw the potatoes and garlic, add a pinch of salt. Cook till soften.
2. Remove most water, and in a large bowl, mash the potatoes, adding salt, pepper, butter and cream. Adjust to your taste and finally add in the herbs.
3. Serve warm!

This is a very simple and fast recipe I love to make recently. Great as appetizer, snack or when you're hungry! Enjoy!!

Armoniche & Chunky Mushroom & Italian Sausages

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Hubs bought this one day last week while we were doing groceries, we have never saw this type of pasta here, well maybe never been that obvious to us at least. I have no idea why he decided to buy it - but it means ME cooking it one day.

Today I decided to try it. And guess what? I like it! Armoniche is most likely designed after a gladiator's armour... and so I read. When cooked, it is soft and so easy to eat. I love the wavy texture, reminds me of mussles in a way...

Well I made this with a very simple sauce. Here goes....

Recipe

1 can pasta sauce (I used Prego's Basil, Garlic & Tomato)
4-5 coves garlic, sliced
Half of a large onion, chopped
Half of a carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
4 big fresh white button mushrooms, chopped
2 Italian sausages (I used Ayamas Italian), finely sliced
Half a cup of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)

Half a packet or Armaniche pasta, boiled according to instruction.

Heat olive oil, stir fry garlic and onion until aromatic. Add the chopped vegetables, leaving the mushrooms until later. Add some water, about half a cup, let the carrots soften and then add pasta sauce. Add the mushrooms and sausages, stir. Add the cheese and stir.

Serve over the pasta and enjoy!

While Away

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 03:07:00 +0000

Hello world.

Inactively away from my favourite food blog, I have been very busy with my pregnancy, moving homes and study. With my 'kitchen' still packed in various boxes, it is sad that I can't do what I love doing - cooking and blogging about it.

My love...

While cooking may be my passion, I have recently gave birth to my daughter, the love of my life (besides hubba of course). She was born on 22 November 2010. We named her Almira Zahraa, meaning beautiful princess.

Wishing everyone a great year ahead and hope to see you all soon again.

Sardines with Mixed Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:36:00 +0000

This is a simple healthy recipe I made for dinner tonight. Have been quite busy and pregnant-tired, I still cook sometimes, but more of simple foods that I can eat :-) Perhaps I shall add in some healthy recipes to cook during pregnancy in here..

Recipe:: Sardines with Mixed Vegetables

1 small can of sardines, including the tomato juice
1/4 carrot, thinly chopped
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 of a large red bell pepper (capsicum), roughly chopped
1/3 of a celery stick, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, chopped
1 green chili, sliced
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
dash of black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Easy and does not take much time.. heat up the pan with olive and fry the onions, tomatoes, carrots and celery until soften. Add the sardines along with its tomato juice. Throw in the rest of the ingredients in and stir, breaking the sardines to smaller pieces (don't totally mash them tho).
Serve while still hot with brown bread and a glass of cool juice.
-----

Sardines are very rich in iron, whilst the fresh tomatoes, celery, carrots and red pepper adds all the vitamins that is soo good to help our body absorb the iron. Not to mention this dinner is low in fat! :-)

Chocolate Chip Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 09:52:00 +0000

Hubs was asleep. We just came back from an almost full day outing, from breakfast to visiting my parents to shopping - it is hot, and driving home seemed like a long, long journey.. Zzzz.. All I wanted to do when I reach home is to just fall onto my comfy bed and doze off... Until ten minutes later, I just could not sleep or rest. And so I woke up, tried to organise some of my clothes and then thought, my kitchen. Some clean up would be good for the kitchen..

Then I stared at those baking pans and ingredients that Ihave not touched in a few months - since I got pregnant. What a waste it would be to just leave them until they expire... I have not had any mood to cook, not even a plain simple fried rice in 3 months since I found out I am pregnant. Well, before that I was busy studying for an exam. My blog has been left abandoned - till I baked my chocolate chip muffins today.

Here they are. My muffins. All nice and yummy. I placed one just beside hubs in the bedroom, he was half awake, and I told him, "There is a little present for you beside the bed when you wake up.". 5..4..3..2..1.. I heard him yelling at me that I made muffins? He he he... It is so nice to surprise someone you love when they least expect it, no?
:: Recipe Chocolate Chip Muffins ::

250gm plain flour
175gm castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbp cocoa powder
90ml cooking oil
150ml milk
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla essence
1 cup chocolate chips (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven at 200 degrees C.

Mix the all of the ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl, the mixture will be watery.

Place cupcakes on a baking tray and pour the mixture, half full. Sprinkle some chocolate chips and bake until ready.

Baked Fish with Soy Dipping Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:14:00 +0000

Lately, been craving for fish. I loved the baked pomfret fish I made a few weeks back, and decided to have more. It's slightly different, especially the dipping sauce I made. It is very delicious and I bet you would really love it!

I would suggest to get medium sized fish for this, and the ikan kembung (Indian Mackerel) is perfect for this!

:: Baked Fish with Soy Dipping Sauce ::

5 Indian Mackerel (Ikan Kembung)
1 small lemongras, thinly sliced
10 thinly sliced lemon pieces
5 Daun Limau Purut (Kaffir Lime Leaves)
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
Aluminium foil, enough to cover fish while baking

:: Soy Dipping Sauce ::
3 tablespoon kicap lemak manis (dark sweet soy sauce)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 large tomato, chopped
3 cili padi (Bird's eye chili), chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice

Preheat your oven (medium heat). Wash and trim fish. Rub oil and cover the fishes with turmeric powder, including the inside parts. Stuff the inside of the fish with some lemongrass, lime leaves and shallots.

On the aluminium foil, arrange some lemon slices and arrange fish on it. Add a few more lemon slices on top of the fish and seal the aluminium foil. You may want to leave a small hole on top to let off some stream.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Serve with dipping sauce.

To make the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients in a dipping sauce bowl.

Note:
Try it with your favourite fish.
You can add a small cut of banana leaf on the aluminium foil to give it more taste.

Simple & Healthy Homemade Beef Burgers

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:57:00 +0000

I'm approximately 370 kilometers away from home, no access to a kitchen to cook, not much food choice - and looking at this burger I made some time ago makes my tummy growl. I miss my burgers. A long overdue post, now it is here to share with all.

My hubs is a meat person - chicken being his most favourite while others are acceptable. When it comes to burgers, the most popular and easy meat to use is the minced meat - I've found some recipes to make delicious beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian patties. I've yet to try some of them, but with beef - I have and it tastes really nice.

Homemade beef patties are really good and healthy as compared to fast food burger patties which is fattening and contains preservatives. Do you realise how much fat it contains? Though I must say, buying readily minced meat also do contain some fat, it is not as bad as those ready made frozen beed patties.

It is very simple to make your own delicious beef patties. Adding some oats and minced carrots and celery makes it healthy too, not to mention a way to make your family (esp. kids) eat their greens. You know some will just remove the lettuce and tomatoes from the burgers, but not the minced veges in the patties!

Here's a picture of how to prepare the beef patties:
Picture 1:
You will need:
350gm minced beef
1 egg
1/2 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoon breadcrumbs/biscuits
1 tablespoon oats
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of Italian herbs
dash of salt & pepper

Picture 2:
Mix well the chopped onion, breadcrumbs, Italian herbs and oats.

Picture 3:
In a medium bowl, mix the minced meat alongwith other ingredients using a spoon, and combine well.

Picture 4:
It is now ready to be formed into patties. Makes about 4 medium patties.

Form a ball with the mixture and using your hands, gently press them down to about 1.5cm thick. I do this as I did not use any patty moulds. The sides will tend to break a little, but simply form it gently again and place on an oiled grill pan, about 3 minutes each side until cooked.

For the burger:
Cut the buns in half, butter them and place on the grill for a minute, this will warm up the buns and give the surface a lovely taste. I love doing this also because it adds a little crisp to the buns.

In order: Place the first half of the bun on a plate and add some lettuce, onions, the patty, some cheese, your favourite sauce (mine was BBQ), tomatoes and place the top part of the bun to form the burger.

Serve immediately!

Vanilla Sago Gula Melaka

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:37:00 +0000

It is blistering H-O-T out here in Penang, Malaysia. It is the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year. I sure got a lot of cookies and oranges from my neighbours. I also got some angpows eventhough married. I'm so lucky to be living in a multi-cultural country!

A belated Gong Hei Fatt Choy to all my Chinese readers here. I have been cought up with my studies & travel, I missed a couple of weekend food blogging! I hope that everyone had a blast on this festive weekend.

Sago (or sagu) pearls - are used in various cakes and desserts here. It is very similar to tapioca balls, both having the starchy texture and white colours. Some of my favourite sago desserts are the sago gula melaka, bubur kacang hijau (mung beans dessert), pengat pisang (banana dessert) and a few others. For me, the simplest and tastiest way to enjoy sago is this recipe that I am posting here.

For a hot day, this is one of the ways to cool down and just enjoy a bowl of Sago Gula Melaka while watching my favourite TV show... I have to say, instead of preparing it the traditional way using Pandan (Screwpine) leaves and gula melaka (Palm Sugar), I used 2 alternative ingredients that still made the dessert a tasty, delicious one.
::Vanilla Sago Gula Melaka ::
Serves 3-4

You need 4 small jelly moulds to shape the sago like in the picture above.

1 1/2 cups small sago pearls
1 cup coconut milk (preferably low fat), mix with a pinch of salt
4 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Drain the sago pearls in cool running water and throw them in a pot of boiling water. Stir to loosen them up, until they turn from white to transparent. Drain the water, and pour ino the jelly moulds. Leave to cool down and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To make the vanilla sugar syrup, Cook the brown sugar with 1 cup of water and add the vanilla essence. Use fresh vanilla extract if you have them. Pour in a small bowl and refrigerate, also do refrigerate the coconut milk to keep it cool.

When ready to be served, loosen the sago from the moulds by running a knife around the mould and shake it into a small serving bowl. Pour in 2-3 tablespoon of santan and 1 or 2 tablespoon of the vanilla sugar syrup, less if you prefer less sweetness to it. Enjoy with a glass of cool iced tea (or any other cooling drinks you want!).

Note:
1. You can also just pour the cooked sago ino serving bowls instead of moulding them first.
2. This dessert may be served hot as well, depends on your preference.
3. Milk can be substituted, instead of coconut milk.

Grilled Asparagus with Rosemary Butter

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:59:00 +0000

This would be one of my shortest post, it is a light recipe I made sometime ago. A long overdue post :-) I started to enjoy asparagus when mum bought some and stir fired it with some fresly pounded chili sambal. It was very Malaysian, for a very western green. When we planned a barbeque last December, I decided to make some grilled asparagus for everyone. It was something we don't frequently eat, but that is what makes it even special - when we don't have something too often, it becomes special.

There are 2 common sizes of asparagus I found in Penang - the big, light green ones with a slight light purple hint on its tips, and the darher shade of green and skinny ones. I personally prefer the big ones.

:: Grilled Asparagus with Rosemary Butter Recipe ::
1 bunch large asparagus
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
3 tablespoon butter, softened
a pinch of salt

Clean asparagus and cut an inch of the bottom part to remove the hard part.
Mix the freshly chopped rosemary with the butter, and combine with the asparagus.
Grill them over the barbeque grill or a grill pan until asparagus cooks. You will see slight grill marks on the green. About 5 minutes each side. Serve with the rest of the barbequed food!

Turmeric Chicken with Ginger

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:27:00 +0000

This delish chicken recipe will make your taste buds hungry for more. It is not the usual fried turmeric (masak kunyit) that we Malaysians are used to. See the recipe and you'll know what I mean as it involves more ingredients.

This is one of the first dish I learned to cook a long long time ago, and kept the recipe because it's worth it. It is adapted from an Australian food magazine, "Super Food Ideas" quite some time ago. Are they still around? I wonder. Send me a couple of the new mags! :-P

What's nice about this dish is the lemony-gingery taste complimenting the tender, turmeric chicken pieces. And I love it with red hot chilis... MMmm... I've been using a lot of green chilis, so this time around, red is IN! Not that green chilis won't work for this recipe...

The recipe I stated below is a modified version of the original recipe from the magazine I mentioned. Nevertheless, it's a success, food tasting approved by husband who is an absolute chicken lover :-)

:: Turmeric Chicken with Ginger Recipe ::
Serves 4

2 tablespoon oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
8 small mixed chicken pieces
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup chicken stock (or 1/2 cup water plus 1 tablespoon chicken stock granules)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or more)
2cm piece fresh ginger, grated
1 large red chili, sliced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
pinch of salt

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Saute the onions and garlic until onion is tender. Transfer to a plate.

Dust the chicken pieces in turmeric powder and cook in the same pan until golden both sides, adding a little more oil of required.

Pour stock over chicken with remaining ingredients and onions. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Garnish with coriander leaves or chives. Serve warm with rice and pappadums and cucumber salad.

Sambal Telur (Egg Sambal)

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:57:00 +0000

This is likely the most common recipe found all over the net. Anyone can cook it. But maybe not me, I am not so good at sambals, but once you get the hang of it, it is something fun to cook. There are various versions of sambal, depending on the type of meat or vegetables to cook. For eggs, it is usually plain chili with onions sambal. My mum loves adding serai (lemongrass) to her sambal when she makes Prawn Sambal. And a whole lot more recipes.

And you must know that this is one of Malaysia's most adored food anytime of the day, especially with Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice). Just a spoonful of the sambal can make your meal very appetizing, it is deliciously sweet and spicy, and the colour itself is beautiful - red. Some of you may not be able to take the heat, but when you use some fresh red chilis (the non-spicy ones ofcourse), it tastes less spicy but still yummy.

:: Egg Sambal Recipe ::
3 hard boiled eggs, cut into 2

For making sambal
2 fresh red chili
5 dried red chili
2 shallots
1 garlic
pich of salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon assam paste
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 yellow onion, sliced

Blend the chilis, shallots and garlic with 1/2 cup of water until fine.
Heat up a small pan with 1 tablespoon oil and fry the sliced onions. Add the blended chili paste and fry on low-medium heat until it starts to thicken. Reduce heat and add assam, sugar and salt according to taste. Fry until it thickens like in the picture above, or as you like the consistency of the sambal to be.

On a small plate, lay some lettuce (optional), arrange the hard boiled eggs whilst leaving ample space to pour the cooked sambal in the middle. Lastly, pour the sweet and spicy cooked sambal in the middle of the dish. Serve immediately with rice.

Note:
- Tastes good with plain rice, fried rice and ofcourse, coconut rice.
- Use fried eggs instead of hard-boiled eggs if you prefer.
- The use of fresh chilis is to moderate the hotness of the dried chilis (sambal would be more spicy if just using dried chilis).

Turmeric Beef with Long Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:19:00 +0000

One of my favourite after work dish is this stir fried marinated beef strips with turmeric, and added with some crunchy greens. It is easy to prepare, so making home cooking after work more approachable..

I normally cook this with chicken, rarely beef. Well, sometimes going out of the norm is good... For stir fry beef, it is best to buy those thinly sliced beef strips, if not made at home. I normally buy mine in Tesco or Cold Storage, and just put it in the freezer until I need them.

As for greens, I choose long beans (kacang panjang) this time. It looked too fresh, too good not to grab some at the fresh market last Sunday... Some stories about this long bean.. hmm, I heard from a bunch (make that a big bunch of ladies) that long beans are beragin ('windy') and they do not eat them, even when some of them loves it. I can never understand that 'theory' of theirs, because my mum always cook long beans at home, and even when I do eat them in restaurants, I never find my body to mbe 'windy' or even bloated. Not even the next day or the next week. Not after a year still.. Anyways.

Long beans are green, crunchy and delicious. Perfect for stir-frys. It really goes well with turmeric and onions... yummy!

:: Turmeric Beef with Long Beans ::
300gm beef strips
1 cup long beans, cut into 1 inch lengths
2 sprigs fresh spring onions cut to 1 inch lengths
2-3 bird's eye chili (or any other chili as you like)
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon Mae Pranom Thai chili paste
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce

Marinate the beef with turmeric powder, fish sauce, oyster sauce and thai chili paste. Put aside.

Fry onion and garlic until soften. Throw in the marinated beed, and fry until cooked or the water dries out. Add long beans, chili and fry until green beans slightly soften, and add the spring onions. Dish out and serve with plain or fried rice.

Baked Pomfret with Lemongrass

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:13:00 +0000

It's a mess when I goreng (fry) fish in the kitchen, and it annoys me more when the oil jumps all over the kitchen! Fried fish is the last thing I would cook, no matter how much I miss my mum's various ways of fried fish. I told my sister, I am just too lazy to fry fish. And asking mum to just fry a couple of fish for me? Hmm, I do have to 'grow up' and do things meself...

Sue (my sis) told me about baked fish, and how delicious they can be enjoyed just like fried fish as well. The key to making baked fish tasty lies in what herbs and spices being used to marinate the fish. And the type of fish you use, of course.

Indian mackerel, pomfrets and salmon are my top 3 favourite fish for baking. Salmon - because we do normally either grill or bake it. Mackerel and pomfret - simply because they're soo tasty for frying and baking is almost the same, in my opinion. It's one of my new year resolution to actually get rid of that particular silver pomfret from my freezer compartment that I've had for quite some time (but fresh still), plus I wanted to find out how baking this little pomfret would be.
It tasted wonderful, almost the same like ikan bakar (grilled fish) except for that natural banana leaf flavour is not there as I used aluminium foil instead. I used lemongrass as my main ingredient, it gives a nice aroma ans taste to the fish while maintaining the natural fish flavour.

With this successful baked fish method rather than messy fried fish, I can happily say that I won't mind eating fish more frequently! Am sure those of you who finds frying messy, will find this recipe workable and pleasant. An alternatif to frying..

:: Baked Pomfret with Lemongrass Recipe ::

1 medium silver (or white) pomfret (Bawal Putih) or Indian Mackerel (Ikan Kembung)
1 small lemongras, thinly sliced
2-4 thinly sliced lemon pieces
About 2-3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1/3 of a red onion or 1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
Aluminium foil

Preheat your oven (medium heat). Wash and trim fish (if not done yet). Rub oil, turmeric powder and fish sauce all over the fish, including the inside parts.

On the aluminium foil, place the rest of the ingredients, starting with the onions, lemongrass on both sides of the fish. Arrange the kaffir lime leaves and lemon slices on top of both sides of the fish, and seal he aluminium foil. You may want to leave a small hole on top to let off some stream.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, then unseal the foil. Bake for another 10-15 minutes of until the fish is cooked. Serve with dark soy sauce with chopped bird's eye chili & shallots.

Note:
Try it with your favourite fish.
You can add a small cut of banana leaf on the aluminium foil to give it more taste.
You can use torch ginger (Bunga kantan) to give a different flavour.

Prata with Chicken Sausage & Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:09:00 +0000

Roti prata, or prata, or more popularly known as roti canai in Malaysia is one of our favourite or must-have) Malaysian breakfast. Despite its oily or unhealthy rumour, next to nasi lemak, having roti canai once in a while whilst maintaining a healthy lifestyle is like chicken soup for the soul. I'm serious. You can't ever ban yourself (or your husband or friends or family) from eating roti canai once in a while. Not even when you're on the strictest diet!

Roti canai is originally an Indian food for breakfast, it's basically a pancake made from flour, eggs, water and ghee or oil. Due to its delicious crispy but soft texture, eaten with a small bowl of dhal, fish/beef/chicken curry, it is commonly found everywhere, even at the frozen food section. Very convenient.

Honestly, the frozen ones is slightly different as compared to the fresh roti canai that you get in the mamak stalls. And why bother to even buy frozen roti cnai when you can get fresh ones? But I found the frozen ones nice enough to make some simple breakfast or snacks... I got the idea from Hot & Roll - it's a chain that sells hot rolls made from pancakes and roti prata, and they have a couple of different flavour to choose from. You can read about it here.

Since it is fairly simply to make, hubby LOVES it so much, I happen to actually have a pack of unused Kawan roti prata, my breakfast was on its way without much thinking.... and it is so much more delicious having it homemade - more sausages, more flavour, and more love...
:: Prata with Chicken Sausage & Cheese Recipe ::
Serves 2

2 frozen roti pratas (I used the brand "Kawan")
2 chicken sausages, thinly sliced
1/2 of a yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Before heating up the prata on a non-stick pan, prepare and cook the filly first, ie the sausage.

Fry the onions and thinly sliced sausages in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, for about 3 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce and fry for another minute, and put aside.

Heat up a large non-stick frying pan on a low-medium heat. Lightly spray the pan with canola oil spray or simpy grease it with olive oil. With a piece of the roti prata, fry each side for about 3-4 minutes or until light brown in colour.

On one side of the prata, sprinkle some mozzarella chesse all over. Place half of the fried sausage with onions over half side of the prata and fold the prata in to two. Repeat with the other ingredients.

Cut the folded prata into two and serve immediately.

Note:
1. Use beef bacon/ham slices to substitute sausages.
2. Try the spicy prata instead of a plain one for a change.

Happy New Year 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

It's been a wonderful year. Another great year almost passed by. I am very happy to get to know all of you, and learn a lot from everyone. I really think blogs are a great place to read, share, and get to know others. I especially thank those who visits this site, and really appreciate those feedback - good or bad, to continually improve and be a better foodie person :-)

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy New Year 2010! May god bless and best wishes to all!

Masala Chai (Tea)

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:18:00 +0000

My friend makes delicious masala chai I've ever had. I never knew what the ingredients were, and thought that the tea is spicially blended and I simply had no idea where to buy them. So on one of the occassion that I was in her house, and while helping her out in the kitchen, did I learn how very simply it is to make masala chai.

Masala chai (Chai, which simply also means Masala tea) is a special brew of black tea with a mix of Indian spices, an India originated hot drink. The taste you get is an aromatic milk tea - the blend of spices such as cardamon, cinnamon and pepper - literally spices up the tea!There are various ways to make chai, I for now am going with the simplest version as a start. Simple yet tastes the same as the one my friend made for me :-) All you need is some black tea bags, milk, some brown sugar, and cardamons...

:: Chai Recipe ::
Serves 2

2 tea bags
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 teaspoon brown sugar
5 cardamon pods, peeled

Boil water, cardamon, teabags until aromatic. Add sugar and milk, let simmer for a few moment. Turn the heat off, strain the teabags and cardamons, and pour into 2 mugs or tea cups. Enjoy warm chai with your favourite biscuits or ckes :-)

Note:
Ingredients are appropriations only, you may adjust tea/milk/spices according to your taste.

Thai Coconut Soup with Prawns (Tom Kha)

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Tom Yum Goong, or Thai Coconut Soup with Prawns (Goong means Prawns in Thai) is a hot and sourish soup you'd love to start your Thai food with. When I first saw and learned about this soup, I was slightly reluctant to try it, as it uses santan (coconut milk) and I don't really like too much santan. However, I changed my mind the second I had my first spoonful of Tom Yum Goong. It is an excellent soup, hot and sour just the way I love it!

Quite frankly, in my personal opinion, it tastes very similar to the more common Tom Yum despite the rich santan ingredient. It all lies in its main lovely ingredients: lengkuas (galangal), serai (lemongrass), lemon juice and fresh coriander roots. These combined, gives the fresh zesty taste whilst the santan adds a cream comfort touch to the soup. Other essential ingredients includes green or red bird's eye chili (or any spicy chili), kaffir lime leaves and some mushrooms would be good (all of which can be found as dried condiments in the supermarkets).

Though it is not very commonly sold outside of Thai restaurants, it is very simple to make anytime so long as you have the key ingredients (as mentioned in above paragraph) at home.

This is an overdue post which I should have put up on my blog 2 weeks back. Well, it's the year end and I've been pretty occupied with travels and social events till now, but here I am, stealing a little time to blog about something new :-) So here is another one of my favourite Thai food recipes for you.
:: Tom Kha (Prawns) Recipe ::
Serves 2

2 cups water
6 large fresh prawns, trimmed but keep its shells & tails on
3 slices fresh lengkuas (galangal)
1 serai (lemongrass), pounded once or twice
1 bunch fresh coriander sprigs (leaves for garnishing)
2 green cili padi or 1 red hot chili, slice the middle part
3 medium kaffir lime leaves, sliced or whole
150gm Enoki mushrooms (or any other type)
50gm santan (coconut milk)
3 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce

On a medium heat, boil 2 cups of water with galangal, lemongrass, coriander roots. Let it simmer for 10 minutes to extract the flavours of the galangal and lemongrass.

Then throw in chilis, lime leaves, lemon juice, and fish sauce. Stir to combine then pour in the coconut juice, start with smaller portions and ad as desired (as some may prefer more or less santan).

As prawns and Enoki mushrooms cook in a short time, add them both just before the soup is ready to be served, and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to the serving bowls, garnish with the coriander leaves and serve while it is still warm.

Tom Yum Goong is served as a starter, or compliments most Asian main course dishes. I love having this during colder days when warm hot and sour soup just warms me up. Comfort food :-)

Molten Chocolate Cake @ Chili's

noreply@blogger.com (Massie) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Dear hubby, Happy Birthday. I know the day itself had passed and we did had this delicious cake at your favourite Chili's, but I HAD to post this in my blog. It makes me hungry looking at it (stomach growling already). And I know you're drooling at the cake right now. Many more molten chocolate cakes to come to us many many years and I am glad to be sharing it with you each time. I love you!