Oct
24
Posted under
Festives Assalamualaikum semua, dan selamat sejahtera…
It had been awhile since I last upgraded this blog, not since the first day of Ramadhan, 21 days ago. Ramadhan had brought forth a lot of memories of home. Especially since this holy month of Ramadhan, people back home would be spoilt for choices of food for iftar. It seemed that during this fasting period, us human being are more attuned to our senses, thus we thought that we were THAT hungry, when we were really not. (I might be wrong here… though I doubt it :p ).
Back home, Pasar Ramadhan (food market) would sprout like wild mushroom after the rain. Sadly, I do not have any pictures of these Pasar Ramadhan with me here, I would have shared it with anyone (or whomever should come upon this blog) and everyone. It’s THE place to go and get food for iftar (though sometimes the prices would be exorbitant compared to other months). The food could be good most of the times, bad only if you are unlucky. But then, nobody’s asking you to buy 5 pieces of one kuih (traditional malay dessert) when 2 would suffice, eh?
Back home, my mom don’t usually cook that much for iftar since there’s only two of us at home. She would go to these Pasar Ramadhan after work (around 5.00pm) and get usually two main dishes, a veg, and maybe two kuih for herself (I don’t really favor these kuih since most of them are usually quite sweet). And she would definitely get herself soybean milk, taufu fa (soybean curd in diluted gula melaka, or diluted sugar), and definitely get me sugarcane juice. I love this, sugarcane juice.
When I was back in the states, the only thing that I would say I kinda missed would be this sugarcane juice. I was told I could get it at some Malaysian chain restaurant like Penang, especially since NY was closeby. But I never had the opportunity to go there since i) I don’t have that much Malaysian friend save for one, and she liked to go to one Malaysian restaurant in New Haven, and ii) Most of my friends NEVER wanted to try oriental cuisine. I know, I know it is quite surprising compared to here in the UK where chicken curry (pronounced KARI to American’s c-UU-rr-IEE). Somehow here, English folks are willing to try oriental food more than their American counterpart. Asking some American pals of chicken kurma would bring forth this questioning, sotong stare (sotong = squid … go figure hehehe ). I could name only one girlfriend of mine, Arlene, whom like to eat hot dishes, closely resembling our hot Malaysian cuisine. But then, her parents are Sri Lankan. She at home eating roti (naan bread) and sambal, like most of us back home does, too. This Malaysian restaurant in New Haven, Gunung Tahan they do a mean Seafood Mee Curry . Their other dishes are good too, not too Americanized like some Malaysian restaurant tend to do. Anyone had a chance to go to New Haven, Conn, please drop by Gunung Tahan, exit 51 at Merrit Parkway(Rt. 15). The service is top notch, that is a guarantee!
Thus getting me to think about my liking to cook. I said like, I did not say passion. I do not think that I have the pre-requisite requirement to be called passionate about food, yet. For one, I am not that adventurous in my cooking. I tend to cook things that I know I could cook well. But I love, totally love collecting recipes. *Grins*…a girl could dream, right? And two, I am totally petrified when it comes to cooking tarty (as in the pie, not the sour kind…heh) dessert. But I love ‘em… I even had bought one of those tart tins. One of these days, insya Allah.
What could I cook really well? Please refer to recipes included in the blog (NOT the wish list beside, but the ones I blog about here). Those I cook quite well. But one dish that I used to cook a lot was Laksa asam kedah (Thick noodle in hot and sourish fish soup). I loved to cooked that at least twice a month. Yes, I loved it that much. Poor flatmate of mine, she used to get so tired of having to eat that (but eat she did hehehe). I remembered this dish because a schoolmate of mine, whom now lived in Iowa, told me that remembered me cooking the dish for them to eat during the weekends. She tried cooking that last weekend, and she said it turned out well…yeayy for win!
Another dish that I managed to perfect (in my own little way–perfect to me and my family at least ) is Mihun Soto with Begedil (Rice Noodle soup with fried potato cakes) . Begedil resembles potato latkes because it is par-boiled potatoes, mashed roughly, then make into a golf ball sized, flattened into a cake. Coat in egg, then fried. Yumm…Win taught me how to do this when we were in school. Since I love soupy dishes, especially with noodle, this is one of my favorite dish.
During this Ramadhan, me and the husband had not really make a big deal out of cooking this and that. We usually had simple dishes to go with white steamed rice, or some pasta or noodle dishes. Or even a steak or two. But that was it. Which suits both of us fine, thank you very much. But, it would be different thing altogether if we were in Malaysian. My husband would go to two pasar ramadhans in a day to scout for things that he would like. And he would buy. And buy. And buy summore. That big boy sure loves his Pasar Ramadhan, enough said *lol*
I will post up some of the dishes that I cooked during these last 21 days. What shall I cook today, eh?
Oct
24
Posted under
Festives,
Masakan Some of the dishes that I cooked throught Ramadhan. Some only yeah…lots of times I forgotten to even take any pic :)…Most of them are simple, home cooked dishes. There are few times that we eat out for iftar, but that’s far and few in between…
Boiled Crab, buah tamar, kuih
Crab masak lemak cili padi, Kung Po Chicken, and Stir Fry Kailan with Belacan
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Kari kepala ikan
Kari with Pedal Goreng and Fried Baby Mustard with Eggs
Daging Masak Merah
Ayam paprik
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Baklava as pemanis mulut
Additional Scrambled Eggs with fried onion, grilled kipper, and stir fried baby mustard with the leftovers from iftar
Buah tamar and Sehabat sweets
Grilled salmon, sambal belacan, stir fry kailan with oyster sauce, and Masak Asam Pedas kepala ikan
Oct
02
Posted under
Hari yang bosan,
Hari yang sangat malas,
Masakan Lazy Lazy Lazy Lazy. I am THAT lazy *sigh*… thus explaining why I haven’t been good and update the journal regularly. I mean, what else does a stay at home mom do ey? Tsk tsk tsk… *slap my own hand*…I’ve been busy lar…Something’s going on, and I haven’t got the times to put it in here. Here goes…
September 25th, 2005
Today I cooked Mee Kuah mcm resepi my mom. Here how I cooked mine (tak serupa mcm resepi kau? Tu pasal nama dia Mee kuah mak den… ada mengerti?????) 
Mee Kuah my style
Ingredients
1 packet fresh noodles (I subtituted this with 1/2 pack of egg spaggheti)
250g chicken meat, cut into slivers
4 TB hot chili sauce — more if you’d like the sauce to be hotter
4 TB ketchup
2 TB tomato paste
2 shallots — sliced thin
4 garlic — sliced thin
100 g baby corn — cut into diagonal (halved)
2 carrots, cut into diagonal
100 g mushroom (whichever kind you choose, wipe clean)
2 eggs (if u tamak buat lebih la)
salt and white pepper to taste
2 TB Cornflour (mix with 4 TB water)
Garnishes
1 firm tofu, fried, then sliced
red cilies, bird’s eye chilies — sliced
fried onion
sliced spring onion and cilantro
cleaned beansprout
Method
Stir fry the shallots and garlic till fragrant, then add in the chilli sauce, ketchup and tomato paste. Stir for a few minutes on medium heat until the oil separated from the paste.
Add 4 cups of water. Turn up the heat, let it come to a boil. Then add in the chicken pieces, baby corn, and carrots at the same time. Sprinkle some salt at this point. When it comes to a boil, add the mushroom.
Then when it boils for the third time, pour the cornflour mixture in, keep on stirring. Add more salt ( to taste) and white pepper.
To serve
Take one serving portion of the soup into a wok, turn on the heat on high, then drop on egg into it. Cover it for just a minute, then carefully pour this soup into a prepared bowl of nodles with the garnishes. Ready to be served.
September 28th, 2005
Cooked mee goreng today…
Mee goreng with marinated grilled chicken
Ingredients
Grilled marinated chicken (recipe taken from here)
2 portions of noodles (or spag)
4 TB Gravy from the grilled chicken (plentiful when I grilled em)
Pak choi — blanched in water and oil
1 TB sesame oil
Method
Heat up the gravy in a non stick pan. Then add the chicken, turn it to coat. Turn off the heat, drilled the sesame oil in, mix it well. Then serve it with blanched pak choi and the chicken. Garnish with chili and fried onion. Ready to serve (add more soy sauce if you desire)
September 30th, 2005
Hari ni rajin sikit masak. I cooked daging and sayur, plus grilled eggplant, then makan with sambal belacan.
Marinated beef, fried with potatoes
Ingredients
700g beef — sliced quite thin
2 onion, sliced thick
4 garlic, roughly chopped
Marinade
2 TB thick soy sauce (the sweet one)
2 TB light soy sauce
a pinch of salt
1 TB chili flakes
2 inch ginger — skinned, then grated
2 medium sized potatoes, skinned, cut into eighth
Oil for frying the potatoes (and 3 TB for the beef)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Marinade the beef for an hour. Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes, and fry them until they are almost cooked. Set aside.
Saute the garlic and onion, then add the beef. Fry the beef on medium heat , take care not to overcook it. Season accordingly, then add the potatoes. If prefer to have a little bit of sauce, could add 1/2 cup of water. Let it simmer for 15 minutes, then ready to be served
Pak choi in oyster sauce
Ingredients
250g pak choi
3 TB oyster sauce
Some boiling water
Method
Boil 3 cups of water, add 3 TB oil and some salt. Then add in the cleaned pok choi.Blanch it in the boiling water for just a minute or so, the drain it out.
Meanwhile, add 2 TB of hot water to the oyster sauce, stir it well. Then pour the sauce over pak choi.
Serve all these with nasi putih, the grilled eggplant and sambal belacan. Yum…
Then in the evening, we ate Mihun Sup my style jugak…..
Mihun Soup my style
Ingredients
2 bowls of pre-boiled rice noodles (or whatever catches your fancy)
200 g beef, sliced thin
2 shallots, sliced thin
4 garlic, sliced thin
2 inch ginger, skinned, julienned
4 cups water
salt and white pepper to taste
Garnishes
sliced red chillies and cili padi
fried onion
eggs (either hard boiled egg, or poached egg)
some baby sawi (blanch it in boiling salted water)
Method
Saute the garlic, ginger and shallots till fragrant. Then add in the water, let it come to a rolling boil, add salt and pepper.
Then add the beef. Stir the soup. Let the soup come to a boil again, then turn off the heat, and drop the eggs in the soup. Cover it for a minute. Carefully ladle the soup with the egg into a bowl containing the mihun and the garnishes. Ready to be served.
Selesailah sudah beberapa hari punya food that I served to my husband. Nanti I could probably relate few stories that happened throughout the week osso…we’ll see…
