Kak Ros's Fried Rice

It has been 4 consequent  Thursdays of sending food to the congregation at Masjid SS8.  Each time we had our 'intentions' and last night was for the  'tahlil' or Quran recitations  in the memory of Miss B's late father, who passed away early this month. (Alfatihah).

The late Uncle Ahmad was the epitome of a happy father of daughters.  4 daughters.  He passed away  peacefully and I can say contentedly because being a close friend to Miss B, I know how he was dotted upon by his  wonderful daughters.  'Daddy girls',  who showered him with not only with lots of love but met to all of his material needs. To that I dare say, daughters are the best,  being one and having 3 of my own.  Double standards towards daughters is going down.  (That still exist you know).

We cooked and packed Kak Ros's Fried Rice, threw in apples and drinking water in the food packs and off  they go to the mosque. (Ya Allah, terima lah doa dan sedeqah kami. Ameen)

The recipe today is Kak Ros's fried rice.

Kak Ros Fried Rice  for (4 person)

4 cups of cooled completely  rice that has 1/2 tsp  salt added and rubbed  into evenly
4 pips of garlic, pounded or grinded
1 (small) big yellow onion (bawang besar) pounded
3 green chili padi (thai chillies)  pounded with a bit of belacan
A few pieces chicken fillet, cut into small pieces
1 cup of thawed mixed vegetable
4 tbsp of oyster sauce
Salt according to taste
Oil

Instructions

Saute in oil  the garlic and onions till fragrant.  Add pounded chillies.  Add chicken fillet.  Add oyster sause.  Add the vegetable.  If too dry, add 3 tbsp of water.

When chicken and veg is cooked, add the rice. Mix and cook well. Season with salt to your liking if necessary. Sprinkle fried shallots.

Rezzy helping with the packing.

Roti jala

Taking care of your loved one's food is a sure way to their hearts. I read on the Good Chef and Bad Chef TV episode that people who gives you food gives you their heart.  Come to think of it, it is true.  The more loving friends or relatives are always inviting me over for a meal. I remember my late Aunt, Mokcik Moh who would be hurt if I do not go for a meal to her house when I go back to Kota Bharu.  Or my paternal Aunt, who would make sure no one leaves her house without filling their stomach first. So, make a point to offer food, not only it is a form of sedeqah that would reap you pahala, it is a way of extending a genuine friendship to last a whole life long.

I found out that you can find love from food.

This is a recipe for roti jala or 'net pancakes'.

Roti Jala

A blender
Half blender of flour
1 egg
2 tbsp of powdered milk
1-2 drops of yellow colouring
Enough water to fill up the blender to the top
1 tsp salt
A roti jala mould

Instructions:

Blend all the ingredients till smooth. Get the right consistency for a light pancake.

Oil a flat pan.  Put some batter into the mould and swirl it on the pan to form a net-like pattern. The best way is this way.  Bring the mould into a star formation and 3 quick circles. If you go haphazardly, you will get a messy net.  When well set and cooked, take it out of the pan and fold it like a spring roll.

To be eaten with curry or any gravy of your liking. Its net-like shape makes it a delectable and refined dish.

Kolok Ubi dan Godok Labu

You know, I was so busy with everything and when I looked back there were a very wide variety of food and the pictures I should have taken, between the period of the last post and now. There was Juadah Berbuka for Ramadhan, that we cooked and received, there was the Juadah Hariraya, the cookies, the main dishes, the side dishes, at our house, at my brother's houses, there was the Akad Nikah ceremony and its buffet and finally the Walimah or Kenduri and its buffet.  Many many dishes and not one picture I took. I was that occupied.

Don't despair, I have 2 super-simple recipes pre-wedding. One from Kak Ros and one, invented by me.

First the the Kolok Ubikayu (tapioca)

Kolok Ubikayu

1 stem of tapioca
Gula Melaka or palm suger
Pandan leaves
1/2 tsp of salt

Cut the tapioca into small pieces and put into a pot. Add salt and boil till tender.  Once it is soft, add a little more water for syrup. Add in the gula melaka to your taste  and pandan leaves and boil until gula melaka has dissolved. This is nicer than you think.

Godok Labu (pumpkin)

1 small ripe pumpkin, cut lengthwise into half and seeded.
2 cups of coconut milk
4 tbsp of shredded gula melaka (palm sugar)
2 pandan leaves
4 cloves
A pinch of salt.

Arrange the 2 halves of pumpkin in the oven and bake until soft and tender.  Once it is soft, and can be poked with a fork, pour coconut milk which has salt added  into both the pumpkin's cavity to its brim. (cavity?) 1 cup coconut per half pumpkin. Add water if not there is not enough coconut milk. Add 2 tbsp of gula melaka into the cavity with the pandan leaves and 2 cloves each. Bake again until very soft and gooey. And scoop away this satisfyingly sweet dessert served hot or cold.

Our new cook, Mimi

Hi I am back

Salam.

Hi, I am back.  That was a long break from writing.  So many things happened.  Life changing.  Status changing. I did what I had to, gave my best shot,  I bent, I broke, I laughed, I cried and when all is good again, here I am,  writing on this blog.  In a nutshell,  I grew.

One of my daughters said, this may be a simple blog but she believes when I die, it will be of some value. Thank you, my darling.  Mama can wait.

I have an additional member to my precious family and his name is Fauzan, my son-in-law, Mimi's husband.  There was a wedding last month and it had called for more than what I could muster, but I survived. Alhamdulillah.

I am also going to be a grandmother soon.  Picipu is expecting a baby whom we now affectionately named  Kumquat.  Picipu's I-phone updates her with the size of her uterus and when she announced that it was the size of a Kumquat, somehow that fruit name stuck on the baby. We await everyday to the progress of  Baby Kumquat. When it moved for the first time, Picipu was amazed and found the meaning of a miracle.  Nothing like the first pregnancy, with all its surprises and wonders. The consequent babies are just as miraculous, only without the surprise element.

The highlight of this blog, is that Mimi is cooking everyday for her husband and in-laws.  My baby is all grown up and taking on the challenges of a young wife.  So cute!!!. (And so brave!!) She hardly cooks before she got married, except when she was made to, a months before the wedding, for a crash-course and quick practice, and now she is cooking everyday. Anak sapa tu !!!

More food pictures and recipes after this post.  Good to be back.

Gift pack for Choc Chip cookies

We make and sell  Choc Chip kismis, Choc Chip Almond, Choc Chip Hazel and Just choc chip.  This is the gift pack version.

Simple orange cake

Picipu brought home some  plump oranges. They were sweet and very juicy   She said it cost RM2.00 each.  Alhamdulillah for this bounty.

This morning, there was only one orange left and for everyone to be able enjoy this last fat orange, Hajar and I made a simple orange cake.  I had only 1 egg left and the recipe calls for 2 eggs.  I increased the orange  juice and baking powder and we had a lovely orange cake. Anyway,  less egg is better.

Orange cake 

125 gm butter (softened)

1/3  cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice

1 egg

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 cup plain flour with 2 teaspoon baking powder or 1 1/2 cup self raising flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder

Zest of 1 orange

a pinch of salt

Beat butter and sugar.  Add egg, milk and orange juice.  Add the sifted flour and salt. Add in orange zest. 

Pour into a cake tin that has been greased and sprinkled with flour.

Bake at 180 oven for 40 mins until golden brown.  Poke the middle with toothpick to see if cake is done.

You are sweeter than lots of candy

Start them young

                                               Sammy and Bella


The whole family love to watch My Kitchen Rules on 702 Astro, on Fridays.  Yesterday was the finals for which team is the best cooking team.

This is the 2nd season and it is our favorite cooking show.  We look forward each  time to see  the meals they set up at their own homes, their presentation, the all sorts of dishes they will be cooking, and the 2  gorgeous judges Manu and Pete.  The contestants kind of grow on us and gradually from the first episode to the finale, we got to know them better and see what they are  about .  This Aussie production has got a wonderful line-up of people, who are interesting in their own ways with  their charms and quirk. And of course, their passion for cooking.

In the last season the winners were the beautiful and talented  ladies, Leigh and Jen.  Yesterday 2nd season  winners were Sammy and Bella.   We also got to know yesterday that these 2 young cooks and sisters had been helping their grandmother in the kitchen since they were 3 years old. 3!!!! And if they started cooking at 3, it is no wonder by the time they got to their present age, early twenties,  their cooking is as good as real professional chefs, a comments given to them by the guest judges, and were better than the older and more experienced contestants. At the beginning, all the contestants were good, but Sammy and Bella had proven to have the talent, skills,  perfectionism and tenacity that kept them safe from eliminations and finally winning the contest.  It  shows that you do not win by talent alone.

So, moral of the story, get your daughters or sons to help in the kitchen as early as they can, provided you keep away all sharp objects.  Let them put cherries on the cakes or roll out some dough and by the time they grow up, they will be amazing cooks like Sammy and Bella.

Youth Festival at Putrajaya

We walked 2 km in the hot sun at the festival to search for Intan's stall.

Along the way, the girls stopped at a few 'attractions'.

Big bubbles for big girls

We finally found Intan (my niece) and her delicious cookies and pies

   
                                     

                                         

Picnic at Putrajaya

Apple pie for picnic at Putrajaya

That night I made apple pie for our picnic.

The girls were sprawled out watching Wreck-it Ralph.

"What shape do you like, Ai?" I asked Picipu.  "Star", she replied.  Sign of ambition.

"Ja?" I asked Hajar. "Love," said my daughter with the loving heart.

"Mi?" I asked Mimi. "Teeth", a predictable answer from a future dentist, InsyaAllah.

The only shape  I could think of was, well, you know.

I am sure all of you can do better than this.

Apple cinnamon pie

4 apples, peeled and sliced thinly
150 gm butter
300 gm flour
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon caster sugar, more if you want a sweeter filling
1 heap tablespoon ground cinnamon,
a bit of iced water
1/2 teaspoon of salt (put in iced water)
1/2 cup of raisins

Rub butter into flour When mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add in enough ice water and salt (put in little by little) to form a dough.  Roll out pastry and line the pie dish. The remainder keep to cover the apples.

In a separate bowl, mix apples, sugar, cinnamon and raisin. Arrange apples on the pastry. Cover with another piece of rolled out pastry. Make a hole for the steam to escape. Sprinkle sugar on the top of pie if you like.

Bake 180 oven for 30 minits on lower grill and another 20-30 min on both grills.

Happy Birthday Mimi

                                   Chocolate Hazel Nut Cake with minimum frosting

Candies and cookies for you

Tom Yam recipe

There are many versions of Tom Yam.  To my opinion this recipe from my Mum's recipe book is the most authentic because this  is also  how  Mama Rahmah of Yala, Thailand makes her Tom Yam.

Tom Yam

A quarter of a chicken, cut in small pieces
3 cloves of garlic
4 lemongrass (bruised)
4-5 cups of water
1 big onion
3-4 kaffir lime leaves
2 small tomatoes (quartered)
1 small carrrot (cut)
3 thai chili (bruised)
Juice of 1 lime
salt
coriander leaves

Put chicken, crushed garlic and braised lemongrass into a pot. Fill with water. Put on the stove.  The secret of making Tom Yam is not to stir the soup before it boils. Just leave the pot to bring to its boil.

When it boils,  put in the sliced onion, kaffir leaves, tomatoes, carrot, and crushed chilies.  Wait for it to boil again.  Now you can stir. When chicken is cooked, season with salt.  When soup is ready, switch off the fire, add the lime juice and throw in the coriander leaves.

You can add in mushrooms, cauliflower and celery if you like.  You can use seafood or meat  instead of chicken.  Or all together.

Tom Yam

Tom Yam is the best soup in the world. Seriously.

Totally healthy and delicious. Who created the recipe was a genius.  Tangy, tasty, hot and fragrant. It has no oil in it, no cream in it like in the western soups.  It is a concoction of herbs and ingredients that are full of healthy properties like lemongrass, which is anti-bacterial, anti-virus, anti-fever.  There is tomato, full of potassium and vitamins, carrots that are filled with beta carotene, onions and garlic, loaded with minerals, and seasoned with lime juice, chilies and coriander leaves,  without any artificial or processed seasonings.

It is a pick-me-up dish that would without fail perk you up because you will  get alot of  zing in your meal and is good to eat when you are down with something or not feeling well.

It is extremely easy to make with many choices of ingredients to throw into the pot. Eat on it's own, with rice or with rice noodles.

Natural goodness in a bowl

My herbs around the house

pretty mints

 3 friends, pandan, kesum and limau purut

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Mother's day present from Mimi

Waiting for them to sprout, chives, lemongrass and coriander leaves

Apple crumble recipe

Apple crumble

(half the measurement if you want a smaller crumble)

8 green apples, peel and slice
3 tbsp of sugar
2 cups of flour
1 cup oats
4 tbsp of brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped almond
175 gm butter

Mix the sliced apples with sugar and put in a tin.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and rub in butter until resemble crumbs.

Add the crumble mixture on the apples in the tin and lightly level it.

Bake in 180 deg oven for 40-45 mins, first 20 min using bottom grill and the rest 25 min top and bottom grill  until crumble decrease in height and brown.

Serve with milk.

Apple crumble by Picipu

The cooking hobby has caught on the girls.  Picipu tells me she finds cooking rather fun and therapeutic.  Today she made apple crumble, one of the family favourites.  

Recipe for pumpkin soup

Pumpkin soup

1 small pumpkin, cut into quarters, sprinkle salt and bake in 200 deg oven
1 yellow big onion, bake with pumpkin
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup of cream ( I use low fat milk)
1 pinch  of ground or grated nutmeg
1 pinch of fennel seeds
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper

Bake pumpkin and onion until soft. Scrape the flesh from skin and blend with 2 cups of stock until smooth.
Pour puree into a pot and cook, add remaining stock and milk .  Add in fennel and nutmeg.  Add in salt and pepper.

Pumpkin soup

I know how to make mushroom soup and leek and potato soup.  That day watching Donna Hay's 'Fast, Fresh and Simple' cooking show, I copied down the recipe for her Pumpkin Soup  and tried it out. It was indeed  fast, fresh and simple and delicious too. I added a few pinches of spices since I am still under the spell of the 'Spice Goddess', Bal Arnesan.

This is how it looked.  Mimi and Picipu has no palette for sweet soup but Hajar and I love it.  Especially when I bite into the fennel seeds. It is sweet, rich, silky and pumpkiny, with a tinge of spice.

Spicy pizza vs tomato paste pizza

The spicy pizza did not turn out so well.  I think it is better to stick to what you know .

Spicy pizza and trifle

Today my daughter and my son-in-law is paying me a visit.

As I was checking the pantry for what is in the house to make for tea,  I found a can of peaches and jello and some fresh milk in the fridge.  All these can make a trifle and  I whipped  them all up into a  cakeless trifle since there is no cake.

At the moment I am waiting for the rest of the ingredients to make a spicy pizza.  The recipe called for garam masala and Mimi called from the supermarket to say there isn't any on the shelf.  Not defeated, I turned to the net to make my own garam masala from scratch.  I hope this turns out because I don't really know how the real garam masala taste like to compare with the one I just made.

Mimi's doctor told her that the Indian race keep  illnesses at bay because they consume  alot of spice in their dishes.

Turmeric, ginger and garlic are good anti-inflammatory food.  Our grandmothers and their mothers use a lot of these spice as medication after delivery and during confinement and they believe when added with other spices, would shrink the womb and to release gas or wind accumulated in the body.  During those times  research on the spices was not heard of, but they were widely used by women.  The 'jamu' and 'makjun', a traditional  Malay and Indonesian medicine are made out of spices.

So lets add some spice to our cooking and stay young and kicking .

Hajar's first cake with icing for me

honey and pistachio cake no sugar

Halal and Toyyibah

This morning in Tanyalah Ustaz, spoke of the defination of Halal.

We should not take lightly of  what we eat and should take an extra mile in finding and eating food which  without a single doubt is free from any non-halal substance.

Even when most of the ingredients are halal, it is the little stuff that can makes it questionable.  The levening  agents, improvers, preservatives and stabilizers are the ones we do not know of their origins.

The ustaz says that the halal JAKIM logo is a safe bet to go by as their endorsement follows the Syariah's requirements.

For one thing, there might be a price to pay for the smoothness and the full-flavouredness and the meltingness and the fluffiness and the deliciousness.of many foods in the market.

A bit less in taste but 100% halal and toyyibah is okay.

Kek Lapis Sarawak

Hazmi  told me that the ladies there bake their native  colourful and festive cakes with much pride.  The names of the cakes in this picture are Masam Manis, Marble Cheese, Hati Pari, Sisek Ikan and there is also the usual fruit cake. There are many more in all sorts of patterns and flavours with equally interesting names at  the Kek Lapis outlets and cottage industries, mostly situated in Kampung Gersik, by the river.  There is even a Kek Lapis Datuk K and  Kek Lapis Neelofa.

In Kuching, the great fun was in the eating

When KT told me she was going to Kuching for holidays, I could not but want to join her as Kuching was once a second home to me when Picipu was working there. 3 years had passed since.

Hazmi, my old contact took us,  8 altogether. around the town and the tourist attractions.  We had fun in the well-planned and well distributed, widely low-rised  with still a lot of land and greenery, friendly people populated  and  all encompassing Kuching. (there's river, beach, forest, orang utan, kek lapis etc etc)

But of course, as I am, an ardent foodie, it was the home cooking at the homestay by KT and Kak Ewi that was the greatest fun of all.  As KT called it, main pondok-pondok. With just whatever we had brought, and what we found at the new Satok market,  we had a great meal made out of simple but delicious dishes, incorporating the ingredients we do not find here in Semenanjong like the midin, terung asam and kelubi and the short puffy chillies.

I brought along Kak Ros's sambal tumis kosong which has become an important commodity to bring with you on your travels because it is the taste of home for the Malay tastebuds. We used the sambal  to make this asam pedas ikan siakap laut with terung asam and kelubi. Can order the sambal.

Vadey recipe

Vadey

2 big onions (chopped finely)
Approx 6 cups of dal or lentils (soak in water for at least 2 hours)
2 green chilies (sliced)
1 inch of ginger (sliced finely)
curry leaves (sliced)
salt


Directions

Drain the soaked dal till dry. Grind but not so fine. Take out from grinder. Add in other ingredients. Shape into flat compressed firm patties.  Fry in oil or use non-stick pan with little oil and low fry till brown.

Vadey

Another recipe from my mum's recipe book. Given by her friend Mrs Thomas. I remember Mrs Thomas was the fair type of Indian lady who wears a front buttoned  short blouse and long skirt. She never dons a sari. She must be of mix heritage or something.  We knew her when my father worked at the Rubber Estate in Kluang and she was one of the wives of the staffs. She must have served my mum this authentic tasting Vadey and my mum must have asked for the recipe.

Vadey is  made of all natural ingredients and a healthy snack to munch on.  Fry slowly till brown  in little oil in a non-stick pan to lessen fat content compared to when deep fried.  Will post recipe later

I remember the aunties

During my mum's days it was a norm to visit your friends often.  The friends would do a sort of rotation to visit each other in their homes, usually during tea.  People rarely bought food from outside and would cook something or serve biscuits. Good biscuits.   Some of my mother's friends are reknown cooks and their tea parties would be the time they show off their cooking finese.

Before, there was no internet and the explosion of information.  The ladies had to go and learn at classes like the Women Institution or WI as it was known.  Or learn from cook books. Or handed down by their families. Now we just search and the recipe appears in droves.

These days you cannot just drop in people's house without informing of your intended visit earlier.  It would be inconsiderate. Those days guest are treated with more revered appreciation, that you get dressed and serve them the best dishes you have when they come, even without prior notice.

Nowadays we don't change for our guest and we treat them in a very 'lepak' manner, picking up the mess as we welcome them into our houses and chitchat as we fry the keropok in the kitchen and stir the drinks in the   mugs.  Those days mugs are not allowed for guests.

Those days women lived up to their appearances.  Dress well, eat well and host well. The olden aunties' ways were always impeccable and proper. When we children are out of 'their' line, be rest assured that we  will know it, by their pinches. That's how we were taught. Mind our ways or get pinched!

I hope it is not too late to teach those ways to the girls. I reallly hope it is not too late but I don't know about the pinching part.

My own chefs

If you read my blog and the accolades and compliments I give the western chefs, you might think that I do not think much of our own local chefs.  On the contrary,  because there are real life great unsung chefs in my family and life that the well known local chefs on TV  seemed to go unnoticed. Sorry..huhu.

My own chefs are, of course, my late great grandmother, my late grandmother,  my ex-mother in law, my aunt, Cikpah and my cooking cousins in Singapore,  My aunts Aunty Nor and  Chor, Kak Ros, Chef with great potential  in the closet, Mariam, her mum, the unbeatable Kak Limah, the girls 'Granny Nora', and my very own, Hajar. And a few more.

I enjoy their food so much that I do not look into the local well known chef's profiles. Hehe. I will.

Recipe for hajar's custard pie

Hajar's custard pie

For crust

280 gm flour

1/8 tsp salt
230 gm cold butter
1 egg
2 tsp vinegar
2 tbsp cold water

Mix all the ingredient into a dough and roll out into a pie dish.  Bake 30 mins until golden.  Poke with fork to avoid the balloons in the dough.

For custard

1/2 tin evaporated milk
1 tin of water (use the evaporated milk tin)
1 level  (not heap) cup of custard powder
1 cup of sugar or more if you like it sweeter
2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolk.

Directions:

When crust is cooked and cooled, pour in the custard.

Top with anything you like. If you use walnut like Hajar, toast it in the oven for a couple of minutes and sprinkle on the custard.