Laksa! Laksa!

Finally, we had laksa at home. couldn't wait until raya or panggil kawan2 baru nak buat. so we made some for the two of us tonite :)

For Kuah Laksa:
- 1 big red onion
- dried chillies (get rid of seeds, then soak in hot water to soften)
- a can of sardines (only the sardines. we won't use the tomato sauce in the sardine. it would be good to wash the sardine a bit to get rid of the sardiny taste and smell)

Add in the Kuah:
- 2 Bunga Kantan
- Daun Kesum
- 3-4 pieces Asam Keping
- Salt & a little bit of sugar

Condiments:
- sliced cucumber
- boiled egg
- sliced chilli
- sliced onion
- limau kasturi
- petis udang

How to make:
-Blend onions, dried chillies and sardines with water inside blender until finely blended
- Boil blend mixture
- Upon boiling, add in bunga kantan, daun kesum and asam keping
- After a while, add some salt to taste, and a little bit of sugar
- Keep boiling and adjust taste accordingly

Then serve and eat happily :)

asam pedas ayam

i cooked asam pedas ayam yesterday. usually, asam pedas is made with fish kan? well, several years back i discovered that org johor buat asam pedas with ayam jugak.

very easy.

what you need:
-blended cili kering, bawang merah, bawang putih
-air asam jawa
-daun kesum
-kacang bendi or okra
-salt & sugar
-chicken pieces

what to do:
-blend cili kering, bawang merah, bawang putih
-tumis the blends in oil
-after tumis dah garing n pecah minyak, add in air asam
- when boiling, add in chicken, daun kesum and bendi
- cook to boil until chicken is cooked and bendi softens
- add salt & sugar to taste. add some more tamarind if you want it to be more sour
- if u want the kuah to be orangy colour, add in a little bit of turmeric powder

kalau makan asam pedas dgn kicap, mmg amatlah sedap.

mix berry smoothie

instead of coffee or tea in the morning, nak try opt for smoothie.. at least a smoothie a day to make sure i get those much needed calcium from milk and vitamins from fruit.

frozen mix berries, milk and some natural Tang mango powder for some sweetness. blend away!

Mushroom Sauce with Lamb steak

uhhh dah lama tak makan steak... mmg lagi best laa dok malaysia boleh jumpa steak halal n murah! so we bought 4 pieces of lamb, and a couple of nights back i baked it in the oven (aiming to buy a pan-griller soon to get those grill marks on meat and toast!)

apparently, the dark mushroom sauce recipes on line use alcohol and i didn't have time to surf so much to get other recipes. from the basics that i found, i re-created my own version.

using these: olive oil, butter, mushroom, diced onion, barbecue sauce, s&p

very easy!

-just saute the mushroom with olive oil, but don't mix them around too much coz according to Masterchef they would become soggy. so just let them sautee and stir once in a while.

-after they're brown, put in butter to melt then put in onion. tumis until all brown.

-mix some barbecue sauce and water to reduce thickness. then put bbq sauce in the pan. s&p. and there u have it, mushroom sauce for steak.

garden time

so this is our little private terrace, we are extremely lucky to even have this space, VERY rare in manhattan to have a terrace, let alone your own :) so since the sun is up, i have been planting some herbs and flowers including:

avocado plant, tomato, sweet peppers, jalapeno, chives, thyme, basil and many more!!!

Spanish Rice with Garlic Butter Prawn Veggie

for today we decided to go for international dish... from a box! hehehe.. thanks to Continental instant rice, dinner can now vary from continent to continent.

On the menu tonight was Spanish rice. We added some diced beef burgers into the rice to make it fuller.

Then for the side dish was Garlic Butter Prawn Veggie. i quickly browsed for some spanish prawn recipes and found that they used a lot of garlic (correct me if i'm wrong). the side dish could easily turn out to be 'sayur campur goreng' je sebenarnya, tapi tak best la kan, kalau lauk rasa melayu and nasi rasa spanish.

so for the side dish, i melted butter in the pan, then sautee some sliced onions and minced garlic. a lot of garlic compared to the onions. then put in the prawns, cauliflower and carrot. and towards the end, sprinkled some parsley flakes and salt and pepper.

the final touch before we eat our spanish rice dish was to squeeze some lemon juice on the rice and side dish, and sprinkle some chili powder for some extra zing!

Roti Jala & Kari Ayam

so i wanted to make some roti jala, and i did!

roti jala was a first time. got the recipe from the net. senang rupanya. tapi lepas dah buat baru la call mak and got some tips. but have to use the tips for next round of roti jala since aritu tak sempat.

for the batter, all you need is flour, egg, water, and pewarna kuning or serbuk kunyit, and salt.

if you use about 500g of flour (which is half of the 1kg pack) then use only 1 egg. add the water until the mixture is cair2 sikit. and add the kunyit until you get the yellow colour, and salt to taste. now here's the trick from mak. instead of mixing the batter by hand, mix then in the blender. yupp. blend them. and then let it rest for a while before actually doing the jala. dont' forget, tapis dulu satu round sebelum start menjala. by the way, you have to have the jala acuan to do this.

then for the kari, like any kari ayam recipe.
dice bawang and garlic and ginger and tumis with kayu manis and bunga lawang.
then mix in paste of kari ayam and chilli and tumis.
then add some water. add diced chicken. add carrot or potatoes.
last add coconut milk and salt.
oh ya, daun kari jangan lupa deh.

this time i made a kick asss chicken curry! sedap gileee!!!!!