Mee Goreng Basah ala BP

Mee goreng basah

Hari cuti ni saya cuba goreng mee resipi Kak Anim (kak ipar) yang saya dapat masa balik dari Batu Pahat hujung minggu lepas dan lepas tu tokok tambah secukup rasa.

Boleh kata menjadi jugak sebab saya tak pernah buat mee goreng dan rasanya boleh tahan, agak pedas dan berperisa sebab ada udang.

Ramuan:
500gm mee kuning - basuh & toskan
5 ulas bawang kecil merah
3 ulas bawang putih
8-10 ekor udang kering
1 sudu besar makan cili boh
1 sudu besar makan cili sos
1 sudu besar makan tomato sos
1 sudu besar kicap atau sos tiram
10 ekor udang basah saiz sederhana - dibuang kulit dan dibersihkan.
Kulit & kepala udang direbus untuk dapatkan airnya
Fishball & fishcake secukup rasa - atau boleh digantikan dengan ayam/daging
Sayur sawi secukupnya - atau taugeh
Air secukupnya

Cara memasak:
1. Tumbuk atau blend bawang merah + bawang putih + udang kering dan tumiskan
2. Masukkan cili boh dan tumis sampai naik minyak
3. Tambah sos cili, sos tomato, kicap/sos tiram dan air rebusan udang
4. Masukkan udang/ayam/daging/fishball/fishcake
5. Masukkan sawi + mee kuning dan gaul sehingga mesra
6. Hidangkan dan siap untuk dimakan! Untuk 4-5 orang makan

Komen:
1. Memandangkan first time buat mee goreng, saya tak pandai agak ramuanya jadi mee goreng ni masin sedikit sebab saya letak garam tambahan. Sebenarnya tak perlu sebab dah ada udang kering + sos cili, sos tomato, kicap/sos tiram.
2. Masak pakai sukatan lebih senang terutamaya kalau resipi sendiri, jadi boleh masak balik dengan rasa yang sama setiap kali.
3. Walaupun pakai sukatan yang sama tapi rasa mungkin berubah sikit sebab jenama sos, saiz udang, kepedasan cili boh mungkin berbeza dari resipi asal.
4. Okay saya cheat sikit masak mee goreng ni sebab ada letak "Cukup Rasa". Rasanya tak payah letak kalau udang kering saya buat resipi asal tadi cukup (5 ekor). 
5. Kalau nak mee goreng lebih basah, tambah saja air secukupnya.

Tomato Bruschetta

This is my version of the tomato bruschetta, which is a hit at any food gathering. Its easy to digest food and really simple to make. You just need a few ingredients : bread, tomato, onion, cream cheese and butter/olive oil.

1. Bread is the most important element of the bruschetta. Normally, baguette would be the bread of choice. But other types of bread would do as long as there's a base for the tomato goodness. This is lovely wholemeal bread from Berjaya Times Square Hotel at 14th floor (RM6). Just cut the bread into 2 inch quarters.

2. Cream cheese (any brand) & pesto butter (to spread on bread)

3. Dice one big tomato and half a Spanish onion, season with salt, pepper and the cream cheese

3. Spread the bread with pesto butter (if you don' have any, just substitute with regular butter or olive oil )

Voila! The end product. Ready to eat.

Gastronomic adventure up North

I was up in the northern state for a 3 day trip. Of course any trip would not be complete without a food hunt. Feature here some of the food that I sampled on my short trip:

Cucuq udang & tauhu goreng - marvellous!

Proprietor of the cucuq udang stall next to Chowrasta. The stall is located in the bazaar right next to Chowrasta Penang

Interesting signage for food stall branding. Unfortunately, I did not manage to sample the Nasi Kandar due to time constrain

Highly recommended by Ms Fantaghiro. This stall in located in Padang Kota Lama foodcourt next to Fort Cornwallis

Mee sotong goreng. Basically mee mamak fried with sambal sotong. In my opinion, this taste like mee rebus. If you like mee rebus, than you will definitely like mee sotong.

Next to Hamid Pata stall, is the drinks stall selling fresh cocnut drink at RM2 for a tall glass. Good match with mee sotong.

Yummy coconut drink with fresh coconut flesh

A bit detour from Penang, this was found in Kuala Kangsar town near the river. We were looking for laksa but found this interesting looking apam manis instead

Cost RM2 per pair and was advised by the makcik who sold this to eat it with shredded coconut flesh and sugar for added taste

Udang Galah in Rompin

Fresh Udang Galah in Rompin. A Grade B size of udang galah will set you back about RM60 per kilo plus cooking it. Featured here is udang galah cooked in chinese style sweet sambal with egg in it. This was about half a kilo of udang galah (about 16 pieces).

Look for the udang galah sign by the roadside and you'll know where to stop...

Road side restaurant along the road in Lanjut

If you have any doubts about the restaurant just look for the signage on the door that says "udang galah sold here"

Entrance to Lanjut, the udang galah restaurants are dotted on the opposite side of the road.

Nasi Kerabu - Resipi Kerabu Jantung

Nasi kerabu - Kerabu Jantung

(Ingredients in pic is incomplete coz I forgot to put the fish & kelapa)

One of the weekends, I tried my hand on making nasi kerabu. Not really difficult but need some prep work. Recipe courtesy of Kerabu Jantung.

You may ask what's the difference between the nasi kerabu that you always bought in pasar malam with this nasi kerabu recipe. And, no, its not because of the bluish color of the rice. That effect can be made by adding pucuk mengkudu to the rice that you are cooking. The anwser lies in the yellowish kuah lemak. This kuah lemak is something as it adds flavour to the nasi kerabu. Possibly because of the budu in the kuah lemak :p

Again, it is easy enough to make but a lot of prep work. Here's the recipe:

Kuah Lemak:

250 gms santan
1 btg serai
2 asam keping
dash of cuka/squeeze of lemon/limau
1 tbsp budu or as u like it
(boil everything together)

Daging Salai

Marinade beef with onion, garlic, ginger & bit of soy sauce

(Grill till well done and slice thinly for serving)

Chili sauce:

5 chilies
vinegar
Water
(blend chillies than add vinegar and water to taste)

Fish
4 ikan kembung
3 asam keping
(boil the fish till its cooked, then deboned and fry without oil till it becomes very dry like fish floss)

Coconut

Young coconut flesh - grated

(fry without oil till it becomes brown and crispy)

Veggies/salad

Long beans

Bean sprouts

Daun selom*

White Cabbage*

Kacang botol*

(whatever ulam or veggie you fancy - in my case the ones *)

* In a plate combine all the ingredients plus keropok keping, and enjoy!

Bibimbap

I have been drooling over this dish ever since I saw it in one of the Korean dramas and later with my mum watching the Discovery Channel about Korea. Apparently bibimbap is a popular Korean dish which literally means "mixed rice" and in the old days it was the dish for the Emperors and also for ceremonies. But now it has become a common and popular dish, besides kimchi.

So last night decided to make this for my buka puasa as I thought about it for the better part of the afternoon (!). Saw the recipe here , and here, got the basic idea about bibimbap and improvised on the ingredients. Main ingredients are: rice, beef, and different types of veggies. Its best to have 3-4 types of veggies. I had bean sprouts, carrots, white button mushroom and kangkung in my kitchen. Korean food is all about health, color of food and presentation. It does reminds me of nasi goreng and nasi kerabu, because you have a rice dish filled with veggies like nasi kerabu, yet the all the ingredients are cooked but the rice. Tastes like nasi goreng too.

Here's my version of bibimbap and how to prepare it in a hurry (I did it within 30 minutes for break of fast):

1. Cook the rice with beef stock, let it be moist or slightly lembek;
2. Cook all the vegies seperately with oil, garlic and salt to taste;
3. Beef bulgogi - my corrupted recipe is to season the beef with minced onion and garlic, dark soy sauce, stir fry it;
3. Red pepper paste or gochujang - since I didn't have this, then I just fry my cili boh with some oil and put some seasoning in - like sambal olek;
4. One egg, cook over easy;
5, Assamble the bibimbap - rice first, then arrange all the vegies and meat around the rice. Koreans have a specific way to arrange the vegies so that you have all the colors in order. Then top of with the over easy egg. One tbsp of sambal on top of the egg.
6. Mix eveything in the pot. Eat and Enjoy!

This was how I arranged the bibimbap in a bowl. It didn't look so appetizing coz this was my second helping with one scoop of rice. I was too hungry to take a picture with the first batch.

This was actually my first bowl of bibimbap with two scoops of rice. Mind you I had seconds after two hours (for sahur heh heh)...and still had left overs for tomorrow.

I have never tasted the real bibimbap in a Korean restaurant. I'm sure the taste maybe different - with the gochujang paste, sesame oil, and the sweet element in Korean food, but I'm already liking my version of bibimbap.

This post is dedicated to Ms Fantaghiro who is ever so silly whenever she hears the word bibimbap and to my mum who told me to cook the bibimbap for her.

Shanghai

I was in Shanghai for work last April. It was so cold - about 10 Degrees, with rain and wind blowing. Luckily, I was mostly indoors for the tradeshow, so only feel the cold while waiting for our driver to bring us around.


Shanghai is a metropolitan city. It's not the same with Beijing which is more cultural and more chistorical. I didn't see much of Shanghai due to hectic schedule. But the thing I remebered most about Shanghai is the food. Hmmm...it seems that my entries lately is centred more around food...anyway. I managed to sample lovely Xinjiang musim cuisine which is easy to find in Shanghai. Just look for the food signage with Mosque logo and "Halal" and InsyaAllah you'll be greeted with Chinese men wearing ketayap.


The food is cheap and delicious, and most importantly, fresh. They favour beef and lamb in their dishes, and lots of spices. Its very hearty and fullfilling. We went to three different types of Xinjiang restaurant - posh steamboat restaurant, roadside shop and another posh restaurant.


Eatery 1: Xinjiang steamboat restaurant



Enjoying steamboat on a rainy night - hot soup with thinly sliced beef, a garden of vegetables - including lotus root, green veggies, mushrooms, potato, etc


Eatery 2: Roadside shop

We ordered stir fry beef with a type of long beans, then beef with potates - taste similiar like padprik but more spicy


My menu: freshly made noodles which tasted like pasta al dente with beef and with a type of long beans - whihc tasted sweet and something like asparagus. Due to language limitation, we'll never know what it is!

The propreitor of the shop with his family

Me and Siti whose living in Shanghai and spoke basic Mandarin but enough to get by with ordering food! She told me once she had tried to ask for a an extra plate from the shop and pointed to the plate in the menu and the waiter brought her a plate of dish! Talk about miscommunication...

Eatery 3: Posh restaurant

Stir fry chicken with lots of spices, one of it looks like ketumbar but has a very stinging and numbing effect to the tongue...not really pleasant but the chicken was good!

Lamb with long beans - another spicy dish but this one was overtly salty. At first we thought that the dish was intentionally salty but Siti confirmed that normally it wasn't so...

And my verdict? Eatry 2: Roadside shop - even though very humble looking but it was unpretentious with food for real people. My favourite dish of all was the freshly made noodles with toppings of beef and type of long beans/asparagus like. I think I can try to make the dish out of pasta noodles but it won't be the same as the freshly made noodles.....

TGI Friday's

Last week I was introduced by my friend Sha to TGI Friday's. We went to Life Centre last Saturday after a heavenly session of spa at Samsara Spa.


The TGIF branch at Life Centre has interesting paraphernalia on the walls - American antiques



I didn't know what to order, and everything on the menu looked good. So to make things simple, I ordered something which have a lot of things on it so that i can sample everything on one plate - Friday's Three for All. It has loaded potato skins with beef bits, Buffalo Wings and Fried Mozarella. The loaded potato skins was ok-lah coz it wasn't crispy enough. The Buffalo wings wasn't so nice as the ranch dressing was only sour and not strong enough. Love the fried mozarella though as it was very crispy and goes very well with the marinara dressing.



Sha ordered the Chicken Caesar's Salad. Loved the romaine lettuce sprinkled with cheese and grilled chicken. Very hearty meal.


On another, visit I tried the fried Mac and Cheese. It was ok, but not creamy enough. Maybe next time I'll try the real mac and cheese, instead of the fried one.


I'm not really a fan of desserts but I find that TGIF have the best dessert ever. My favourite is the Brownie Obsession. The dish is a contrast of warm and cold. The ice cream is brain freezing cold, while the brownies is warm and toasty. I really, really enjoyed it and think that it is better than Chili's brownies.




Another excellent dessert is the Mocha mud pie - its a choc almond mousse and coffee ice cream drenched in choc syrup, toasted almonds on top as well as sprinkled with choc crust. Not a fan of coffee, but the pairing of mocha and choc is palatable for non-coffee lovers. Frankly, it's awesome!

On yet another visit, my friends and I tried the Boneless Wings, Fish & chips and Chicken Fajitas nachos. Love the tartar sauce of the fish & chips, and the chicken fajitas nachos is crispy - better than Kickin' Jack Nachos at Chilis

Verdict:
1. I love the environment as it is less crowded than Chilis and they have great music - try TGIF at Wangsa Walk, as they have a lot of space and still new.
2. Price wise, the ala carte menu is a bit expensive than Chili's.
3. Appeal to the wallet as they have the 2 course menu for RM29.90 every Mon-Fri. Choose one entree and one main course to share it with your friend.

The Birthday Celebration

We had a birthday celebration at Chili's for Ms Fantaghiro's birthday after work on Wednesday.


Ms Fantaghiro in her many vain poses

Ms Fantaghiro doing her best Amanda pose


Ms Fantaghiro with her birthday card


Ms Fantaghiro with her Southwestern lamb grill. Yummy!


Ou regular menu at Chili's - the Triple Play's awesome!

Ms Fantaghiro happy and full

Nasi Dagang

Nasi Dagang made fresh this morning!

Last two weeks I went back to Rompin with my mum. Hubby asked me to buy nasi dagang to tapau back, but it was already noon and nasi dagang is always sold in the morning for breakfast in the East coast area.

So hubby must've been craving for nasi dagang, coz last friday's pasar malam he went out to buy one. Then he was harping on me to cook nasi dagang. I am not good with Malay cooking but fortunately, I copied down the recipe from Cik when I was in Rompin. So yesterday we went out to Carrefour to buy the ingredients including ikan tongkol.

Misplaced the original recipe, called Cik on the phone for the ingredients and made a scaled down version of it and it turned out ok!

So here goes the recipe for Nasi Dagang for two persons, from scratch:

Nasi
1.5 cup of ordinary rice
0.5 cup of pulut rice
(soak both rice in water for at least four hours)
5 tbsp of coconut milk - add sugar and salt till its very, very sweet & salty
1 tbsp halba (fenugreek seeds)
Red onion, ginger - sliced thinly

Fish
1 whole ikan tongkol
(cut it to 5 pieces, cook with water + salt + asam keping)
* can substitue with other types of fish such as tenggiri, kembung, etc or prawns, chicken.

Kuah
Wet ingredients:
500 ml Coconut milk - or as much as you want the kuah to be
10 pcs of dried chillies - deseeded and soak in hot water
2 inches lengkuas (galangal)
1 inch ginger (halia)
1 inch kunyit hidup (live turmeric)
(blend chillies, lengkuas, halia, kunyit hidup)

Dry ingredients:
1 tbsp of fish curry powder
1 tbsp of serbuk ketumbar (coriander powder)
1 tbsp of serbuk jintan manis
1 buah keras (candle nut)
2 buah pelaga (cardamon)
3 bunga cengkih (clove)
1 bunga lawang (star anise)
1 inch kulit kayu manis (cinnamon)
(dry roast without oil then blend all ingredients)
2 inch gula melaka

Steps:
Rice
1. soak for 4 hours
2. steam the rice, about 15 minutes into cooking or when its half cook, p0ur cold water on top of the rice
3. close lid, wait till throughly cook

4. once rice is cooked, wade thru rice with coconut milk + sliced onion & ginger + halba till it has a glowy sheen. Easy on the coconut milk + halba, or you rice will have a very strong, overbearing taste.

Kuah
1. Simmer all the wet ingredients till it boils
2. Add fish + 2 pcs asam keping till it boils again

3. Add dry ingredients, and simmer till the kuah becomes thicker (about 30-45 mins) and oil breaks on the surface & season to taste

*Serve Nasi Dagang with cucumber salad (vinegar+onions+cucumber+pineapple - optional)

Cooking nasi dagang seems like a daunting task, especially somebody like me who rarely cooks Malay dishes (not sure if I can do a mean curry). But cooking nasi dagang is simple enough, its just that the ingredients looks like a lot be prepared. Once you have everything ready, its just a matter of throwing eveything into the pot!

P/s: hubby had a second helping!

Cake Deco Class with Yasmin Sanusi

Yasmin Sanusi's book on caked deco using fondant

Salam Ramadhan to all..

Yesterday was our cake deco class with Yasmin Sanusi, organized by Aza De Kaza who is Puspanita's Pengerusi Kraftangan & Keusahawanan. The class was RM190 for a 5-hour session and there were 15 participants in the class. We were taught how to make cupcakes, buttercream icing, how to ice a cake, decorate cupcakes with 6 different designs - Elmo, teddy bear, clown, swirl, rabbit, and one decorated with coloured piping gel. More info on cake decorating class can be found on Yasmin Sanusi's website.

I'm not really a fan of cupcakes but the ones that Kak Yasmin baked in class was the yummiest and fluffiest I've ever tasted. It was a basic yellow cupcake recipe in which she substituted vanilla essence with orange flavour. She'd also taught us how to fill in piping bags with buttercream, some neat tips on how to soften or harden the buttercream, depending on what you want to decorate. If you want to make a sitting clown, then you should harden the buttercream by sifting in more icing sugar, you know its stiffer when you spoon just stands in the icing. If you want to make some delicate motif like leaves, then add more milk to soften it.

Kak Yasmin explaining how to make buttercream icing by slowly (medium speed) creaming shortening, butter, icing sugar, milk/whip cream, cream of tartar, some salt and vanilla essence. Must be patient and give ample time for the buttercream to turn out nice and fluffy

Kak Yasmin demosntrating us how to make shell motif on the cake

Yours truly decorating a cake with woven basket techniques on the side and shell motif at bottom of cake and star motif on top of cake. My cake's is 90% done as shown here

Voila! The cake done with roses, leaf and branch motif. We learned how to make the roses from scratch. And kak Yasmin showed how to make two-tone rose. But mine's not so beautiful lah...kembang semacam jer rose tuh hehe

Elmo's furry face was made with piping tip with lots of small holes, same technique for making grass, then his eyes, nose and mouth were shaped from coloured fondants. The star cupcake were filled in with coloured piping gel, the same piping gel that were mix into buttercream to make it more smooth and shiny. The sitting-down clown was made using building up techinque to form its body, the icing should be a bit sitffer so that you can put the clown's head (non edible)

The proud owner of decorated cupcakes

Aza De Kaza with her cupcakes. During the class, she kept saying "Ini bukan bidang aku!" And look how her cupcakes turned out! I believe anyone can do it, just need to learn the techniques

Soon to be mummy, Teena with her cupcakes. She also made some of the most beautiful roses in the class.

Mother of four - Kak Lin, proudly displaying her decorated cake and cupcakes.

All in all, it was a fun and quite tiring 5 1/2 hours of class, but we did learn a lot! Kak Yasmin did a really good job teaching us the decorating techniques. Now I know what's its all about, I can decorate my own cupcakes! Next, I would like to learn cake deco using fondant with kak Yasmin, which she I believe is more of her specialty. Look in her website and you'll see many creative things that she had created from fondant such as the burger cake and cactus cupcake.

*FYI: Cake and cupcakes that I decorated yesterday were given to my neighbour who have 5 children, they were so delighted to see the decorated cupcakes:)