After steaming

So here is how it looks like after steaming. The last picture in the previous post was after all the preparation. Oh gosh I can't describe to you how delicious this is! Especially the fact that I am craaazzzyyy over steamed fish. Go and try guys! Great to cook for last minute family gathering moments.

#42 Tom Yam Steamed Fish

Hey there readers of my blog (if any lol)! Today will be the first time I am posting an original recipe of mine. Unless there is a similar recipe out there, might be purely coincidental coz I did not refer to any recipes online for this recipe.

I am never a fan of cooking fish as I can be a little bimbotic about the fishy smell. Lol. But when I do, it's fillet dory. No bones, no guts, and no scales. Haha. Got that for $5 for 2 packets, so that's 6 fillets from Giant Hypermart. I wanted to cook something else today but the rain just wouldn't stop. Thus, I had to stay home and use whatever ingredients I can find at home.

Ingredients:
2 Dory fish fillet (or any fish you prefer)
1 Lemongrass (sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 teaspoons Knorr tom yam paste (1 tsp for each fish)
2 stalks of spring onions (chopped)
4 bird's eye chillies sliced (2 chillies for each fish)
3 inches worth of ginger (sliced)
4 kaffir lime leaves (sliced)
2 teaspoons light soy sauce (for each fish)
1 tablespoon sesame oil (for each fish)

Instructions:

Wash your fish and then smother them with the tom yam paste, front and back. Place the fish in aluminium foils (2 separate ones as the ingredients mentioned are for 2 servings). Take half of the sliced ginger and place it on the fish, and sprinkle half of the chopped garlic. Same for the spring onions, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves, separate them into halves and then sprinkle them on top of the fish. Last but not least, your chillies. You can use normal red chillies if you do not like spicy food. Ohhh I loveee spicy.

Now pinch the sides of the foil to make it into a boat like structure to ensure the liquids do no flow out of it when steamed. Now you add in the 2 teaspoons light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in both foils above all the garnishing. Now cover up the foil like a tent and not resting on the fish. Steam it for like 12 to 15 minutes, and it's ready to eat. YES IT IS THAAAT SIMPLE! NOW GO AND TRY ALREADY! :)

Down right delicious

Just broke my fast, and this was downright delicious guys! Go and try cooking it! Don't worry it's not spicy but it's so fragrant, and just the right amount of savoury. Yummmy! Alhamdulillah, 2 more days to complete my puasa 6 and I can eat this for sahur tonight! Meh aku belanja gambar haha.

#41 Ayam Masak Bali

This is the second time I am cooking this but the first time updating my blog about it coz I am too lazy. Haha. Anyway I don't know why they call it Ayam Masak Bali coz i have never been to Bali.. maybe they sell this in Bali? No? I got the recipe from facebook after losing it for soooo long! So I am going to blog about it in case I lose it again!

Ingredients:

3 Chicken drumsticks (cut into 3)
6 stalks of lemon grass
8 stalks of curry leaves, dispose the stem
A handful of dried chilli
3 big red onions (peeled and quartered)
5 cloves of garlic (peeled and smash)
1 inch worth of ginger (cut for easy blending)
2 tablespoon dark soya sauce
1 tablespoon spicy soya sauce (Kicap Pedas Mahsuri, optional.. I just like to tweak recipes haha)
3 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt (or to taste lah)
A small piece of belacan (like 1 square of Cadbury's chocolate bar)
Water

Instructions:

First, boil your dried chillies, and once that's done drain the water. Add in the onions, garlic and ginger together with the boiled chilli into a blender and don't forget your belacan! Add in water accordingly to ensure that it becomes a smooth paste. Not runny. But a paste. Okay? Done? Set that aside.

Take your lemon grass and hit them hard maybe using brick and mortar possible, just to make them open up. Done? Now set that aside together with your curry leaves.

Now your cut up chicken, marinate with tumeric and a pinch of salt. Done? Now heat up some oil and fry those chicken pieces! Of course you have every right to change to a chicken part of your choice but this is my favourite! Fry them for about 8 minutes or so or until the chicken stops bleeding (I can't stand the sight of blood oozing). Fire should not be too high as only the external part of the chicken would cook but not the internal part. Then set aside, but don't turn off the heat or dispose off the oil.

With that same wok, add in your lemongrass. Fry them until they turn yellowish and the aroma comes out, then add in the curry leaves. Not too high of the heat as it would burn those leaves. Once you see like the leaves turned crispy, add in your blended ingredients. Stir them good! 

Then add in the 2 different types of soya sauce. It depends how dark you want your dish to be actually.. I prefer darker that's why I used like 3 tablespoon of soya sauce. You can just stop at 2. Or less?

Stir them up and let the ingredients cook. How to know? The oil will begin to separate and surface from the ingredients. Once you have reached that stage, add in your chicken and stir again. Make sure they are all covered with the sauce. At this stage I prefer to put to medium to low heat to make sure the chicken is not only thoroughly cooked but the flavour from the lemongrass and curry leaves has penetrated into the chicken for better flavour. I left it like that for about 10 minutes before turning off the heat.

It's as simple as that! But I am fasting so unable to taste my cooking! It's okay.. just 45 more minutes! Happy trying guys! Good luck!

Sorry I missed out the belacan here.

Last 2 days of Ramadhan~

Assalamualaikum my followers (if any?)! hahaha!

I know it has been a while since I posted a recipe. Been pretty busy with school, but I still cook, just that I don't have much time to post the recipes up.

Anyway, Hari Raya is around the corner! I bought some instant lemangs already~ What should I cook with it? Rendang ayam? Ayam masak merah? Yes I am putting an emphasis on ayam~ Coz I am a chicken lover!

The only thing I look forward to for Raya is the food. Not the washing of endless glasswear each time people leave my house definitely. Oh! And also Siti Nurhaliza's raya song~ Hehehe Smule! Any smulers here? follow me on Smule also ok! Srikandi_Rin ! I don't just cook, I also sing~ hahaha. I sing while cooking...

Okay lah I have decided to cook rendang ayam. So I can post up a new recipe on my blog, coz I don't have any rendang recipes here do I? :D Rendang and lemang is melokekk~

Wait for my recipe update tomorrow on Chicken Rendang okay guys, in shaa Allah! :)

#40 Salted Egg Prawn

Salted Egg Prawn & Snow Crabs

Hi guys! I can't really remember if this is a repeated recipe, but I will still just update my blog anyway! Hehe! Amidst my busy schedule and overloading assignments, I need to spare some time for my hobbies too. Thus I decided to cook yesterday. 

I went to Sakura International buffet at Downtown East on Thursday, and so we received complimentary snow crabs. They're pretty much just boiled crabs. Since there were still a few left and we were already too full, I decided to bring home the crabs. But then again, just the crabs alone won't be enough and won't make me feel full, thus I bought a packet of big prawns as well. 

So here's the simple ingredients you need for this recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of evaporated milk 

About 9 big prawns

Some crabs (but optional)

Salt

Pepper

3 Salted eggs 

3 Chilli Padi (finely sliced)

About a handful of curry leaves (without the stems)

1 cup Corn flour

1 cup Plain flour 

1 teaspoon Hao Chi

2 cloves of chopped garlic

2 tablespoons butter

Some oil for frying 

1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions 

So let's begin! First of all, wash the black stuffs off your eggs, and boil them for about 15 minutes or so. When you're done, cut the eggs into halves. So now you should end up with 6 halves of eggs. Use all of the yolk, and take out only 3 egg whites. Mash these eggs together, and put aside. 

Prepare your prawns. Shell off, just leave the tail, and then devein the prawns. Mix in a bowl your plain flour, corn flour and hao chi powder. Wash your prawns, coat with some salt and pepper. After which, dip the wet and seasoned prawns and crabs in the flour mixture. Then fry them all up. Not too long to the extent it would make the prawns dry up and shrink. Put them aside.

Now for the sauce. In a separate wok, melt your butter in there, add in the chilies, curry leaves and garlic. At this point you'll smell the beautiful aroma of the curry leaves. about 1 minute or so, add in the milk and keep stirring. Then add in your mashed salted eggs, and stir well to incorporate the milk and eggs. Last but not least, add in your sugar. Once you think that all the sugar has caramelised, add in the prawns and crabs. Stir well, as the sauce will thicken up due to the cornflour on the prawns/crabs. Let it cook for about 2 minutes or so while continually stirring. Turn off the heat, and you're done! 

Happy trying guys! This think is HEAVENLY!

#39 Sambal Petai Udang

Oh my goodness! It's been a while since I updated this blog!! Kinda getting lazier and I was busy training for my TP test. Anyway, I passed. So alhamdulillah. To celebrate, I requested for a packet of petai from my boyfriend. With that I am able to cook 2 dishes today! :)

So we'll start off with my number 1 favourite dish, sambal petai udang. I've pretty much gave up trying to find english translations for my recipes already. Haha.

Ingredients:

500g of big prawns (head removed, halfway peeled skin and deveined)
2 medium sized onion (cut into quarters)
About more or less 15 dried chillies cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 of belacan, about the size of your last 3 fingers stuck together
Tamarind juice about 3/4 of a cup
Petai beans (optional for people who don't eat this)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon MSG (if you're the healthy type then don't put lahh)
1 teaspoon "Hao Chi" seasoning powder

Instructions:

Before you start your prep, soak the dried chillies in hot water until they are no longer wrinkly. What i did was boil it in water for about 7 to 9 minutes while I prepare my prawns which took practically forever! Strain the chillies, rinse under the tap once done.

Don't fully peel the skin of the prawn. Just half way through, then devein the prawns. Oh yes cut those tiny little feets and head off as well. Wash them well and set aside.

Petai beans have pungent smell so not many people favour it. However it's great for your metabolism! Taste wise, a little to the bitter side. Okay so you will need to slice the petai into half, like open it up. Sometimes there might be worms living in there. So just be safe and cut them into half. Those with worms pleaseee don't take the risk by cleaning it ir what. Just throw those away and avoid having parasites in your digestive system! Afterwhich, wash them, strain and set aside.

I mentioned to quarter the onions. This is to make the blending process easier. So put in the blender you onions, garlic, chillies and belacan. Then add in some water like half the amount of the ingredients in the blender. It should not be so watery. Then you blend it up until really smooth.

Next up, heat up some oil in a wok. Put in quite alot of oil.. like enough to just cover up the blended ingredients. Add in your blended ingredients. Stir well. Give it some time until the mixture is thoroughly cooked or your sambal is going to be super spicy. Keep stirring once in a while. When you see the oil starts to surface, and mixture starts to separate, add in the tamarind juice (I used tamarind paste mixed with 3/4 cup of water, just take the juice). Stir again.

This is when you add in your condiments; sugar, salt, Hao Chi and MSG. Why so much more sugar than salt? This is because we're making prawn sambal. It needs to be more on the sweet side to taste good and complement the prawns. If you feel like it's a little bland then add in some salt according to your preference. I can't give you the exact measurements here.

Keep stirring the sambal once in a while. Until you see the sambal thickens up and not so watery anymore. Then add in the petai. About 3 minutes later, add in the prawns. If you add in the prawns too early it would shrink and that would be so upsetting lol. So once you see your sambal becoming much more thicker then you add those prawns in. Once the prawn is cooked, turn off the heat. And tadaaaa! It's done! I almost died eating it coz it tasted BEYOND FABULOUS! Happy trying guys! :)

This should be the end result. Thickened sambal. Don't make it too dry and thick coz if you were to heat it up it might end up being too clumpy.

And this is the part when I just put in the petai beans n prawns. Pretty much watery and soupy. This is not what we want k? Be patient and wait for the liquid to evaporate a little! :)

#38 Chicken Curry

No pictures for this one, coz I cooked it for my boyfriend's family at his place, didn't have the time to take any pictures and I had to leave. Nevertheless, this is a very simple dish! And an all time favourite! Shall we begin?

Edit: I got a picture but it was 79 weeks ago. It's the same thing! Lol my #9 recipe actually. Guess this is a repeated recipe. The picture illustration is clearer in that post, go ahead and check it out yea! :)

Ingredients:
4 medium sized onions, cut into quarters
3 cloves of garlic
About 3cm ginger
3 pieces of dried tamarind (a.k.a asam keping)
7 tablespoons of beef curry powder
1 box of coconut milk
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
8 chicken wings
1 tablespoon tumeric powder
1 stick of cinnamon
2 pieces of star anise
4 cloves
2 cardamon seeds
Oil
Water
Salt
Sugar

Instructions:

Ingredients may sound overwhelming, but it's pretty simple actually. So first step, blend your ginger, onions and garlics into a paste. Mix this paste with the curry powder, and put aside.

Next, marinate the chicken with tumeric and a pinch of salt after washing them. I prefer to cut my wings from the upper joint section so it looks like I have more chicken. After this, deep fry the chicken to make sure that it'll be properly cook later on. About 5 mins would be enough coz we don't wanna overcook them. With the same oil, fry the potatoes for about 3 minutes.

In a pot, use the same oil used for frying just now, about 5 tablespoons of oil, add in the 4 spices, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and cloves. Afterwards, add in the blended ingredients. Stir them up until you see the paste starts to bubble and the oil surfaces. Add in your coconut milk. Using the coconut milk box, add in water twice. So 2 boxes of water. Stir them up. It's very important to stir so the coconut milk won't separate and your food will look like vomit. Lol.

Add in the dried tamarind that you have washed. And again, stir. If you think your curry isn't "yellow" enough, then add in 1 more tablespoon of curry powder. Then, add in the chicken and potatoes together. Then add in your salt and sugar to taste. Give it a good stir to make sure the chicken sinks in the gravy, cover the pot with a lid and turn heat down to medium. Let it cook for about 10 minutes. Stir the gravy once in a while and cover it again. Once time is up, turn off the heat. Oh yes you're done! :)

I told you it was easy! Happy trying! :)

#37 Sweet & Spicy Clams

It's the time of the month where cravings go haywire again for me!! Today, I felt like eating some shellfish coz I was feeling a little selfish. Lol.

It was already 8:30 PM but I felt a strong urge to eat clams or lala. Lucky for me Giant supermarket still had the last packet of it! This is a very simple and quick recipe!

Ingredients:
About 200g of clams with shells
1 onion, sliced (but not so thinly)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 lemongrass, thinly sliced
2 green chilli padi, sliced into halves
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut into 6 wedges
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoon of tomato sauce
3 tablespoon of chilli sauce
Water
Salt
Sugar
Grounded black Pepper
Oil for cooking

Instructions :
First step would be, boiling some water, about a cup. And while waiting for the water to boil, wash your clams with salt like 3 rounds and then drain the water off. When the water starts to boil, add in the clams and leave it in there for about 5 minutes or so when you realise the shells start to open up. Turn off the heat, strain the water off, and give them a lil rinse.

Now for the sauce. Heat up some oil (not so much) in a frying pan or a wok, add in your onions, garlic and lemongrass all together. Stir them up until the onion caramelises. Afterwhich add in your oyster sauce, tomato sauce and chilli sauce. Give it a little stir, and add in around 5 tablespoons of water. It's going to be runny but it'll thicken up later. Add in a dash of salt, pepper and sugar. No exact measurements as it depends on how much clams you use. I just cooked a little. Add in your chillies and tomatoes, and stir again.

Now add in your clams. Stir them well. Cover with a lid to make sure it's properly cooked to avoid food poisoning, for about 4 to 5 minutes. Then you give it a final stir and turn off the heat.

For extra flavour and colour, I added some chinese parsley as garnishing. It made the thing taste better but it's optional. If you want the gravy to be thicker, then add in some corn starch. As simple as that! Enjoy your clams while they're hot! :)