roti canai and tomato chutney

made the tomato chutney 1st and had no roti to go with so decided impulsively to try making roti canai...

tomato chutney recipe from culinary princess, very nice although a bit sweeter than i would prefer.

roti canai recipe from http://www.malaysianfood.net/recipes/reciperoticanai.htm

food art by bunny. with my little blue heart as deco.

kuih ketayap and bubur caca

bubur caca by bunny. thanks for all d chewy things... serai as deco... :)
baya made this. food art by bunny. was awesome... loved the sweet gula melaka coconut inti.

nasi ayam

saturday was a good cooking and eating session. nasi ayam dedicated to baya ( my baby) and irene....

recipe for the nasi from http://resepi.mesra.net/Detailed/2472.shtml

and malay fried chicken

for the marinade:
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coconut milk

Marinade overnight/ at least 2 hrs befoe frying..
Fry on the first side until golden brown and crispy, about 10 minutes; the timing will depend on how hot the oil is. Turn the chicken pieces over with 2 forks or a pair of tongs and continue to fry them. You may need to raise and lower the heat a few times to maintain the proper frying temperature. The oil should always be bubbling vigorously. It should take 20 to 25 minutes total to fry the chicken. If you're not sure if the chicken is cooked through, test it by poking a fork into the thickest portion and then pressing down on it. The juices that are released should run clear, not pink. Remove the chicken pieces to wire rack or paper towels and let drain for a few minutes before transferring them to a serving platter.

Serve with rice.

brownie

truthfully i am a bit disappointed with my brownie.... my fault too, cause i smartly did not follow the proportions in the recipe and added milk. so lesson learnt, do not add milk, while modifying recipes, it takes a few tries... taste is fine, but looks bit ugly, cos the top is slightly blacker than what i would like it to be... recipe from www.culinaryprincess.blogspot.com. thanks ko, for your recipe and support in baking....

loh mai kai

just felt like cooking today... it's therapeutic, and well good for procrastinators like me too. bored of studying, just cook. found this recipe on lily wai sek hong. that woman can really cook. just click on her link on the right if you wanna look at more recipes.

Ingredients:
250g glutinous rice2 cups water/chicken stock100g chicken meat
100g Char Siew(bbq pork) - slice1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), - didn't use these but would prob taste better if you do.
slice10g black Chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin slices

Seasoning (A):
1 tsp light soy sauce - used superior mushroom black sauce instead
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ginger juice - i used slice ginger
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiau wine - dry sherry will do as well, i added 4 tbs. smell nicer.
1 tsp oil
1 tsp tapioca flour - didn't have this so omittted.

Seasoning (B):
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce - used superior mushroom black sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder - if you don't have this, you can make your own (providing you have a herb grinder) recipe from http://www.foodreference.com/html/five-spice-powder.html

Method:
Wash glutinous rice, then soak it for two to three hours.Steam it for 30 minutes. - I used normal long grain rice. cook the rice bit soggier.
Cut chicken into slices. Marinate with seasoning (A) for about one to two hours. I cooked chicken in a small pot together with mushrooms.
Heat oil in big glass bowl and microwave for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken and mushrooms, microwave on high for 2 minutes , stir and cook for another 1 minute more.
Mix cooked glutinous rice and seasoning (B) - cooked the rice together with seasoning. the taste absorbs into the rice.
Grease six small-size rice bowls.Arrange mushroom slices, a few slices of Chinese sausages ,chicken and bbq pork slices.Top up with glutinous rice and press down with a ladle.
Fill the bowls with water/chicken stock, make sure the water level is above the rice.Steam for 30-40 minutes. - easier, put in microwave for 30 secs. just put 2 0r 3 tbs of chicken stock if you using microwave.
Alternatively, wrap the bowls with plastic wrap , poke the wrap and microwave on high , 3 bowls at a time for 20 25 minutes.
Repeat with the other 3 bowls.
Turn over the rice bowl onto a plate and serve or leave to cool before wrapping tightly with wrap and then foil, leave in the freezer. When you need to eat them, remove the foil and microwave until heated through.
Loh Mai Kai can be eaten with chilli sauce.

nasi beriani

have been cooking.... reviving my hobby, it makes me happy.... this is my first attempt at nasi beriani, had this craving to eat it.... and too stingy to eat at indian restaurant... too ex, so the best solution? cook myself!! you can find the recipe at http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib2739.html - for the curry, i used lamb instead of mutton. Make sure you use ghee, smells a lot better. And to figure out the spices, use wikipedia.

made the rice differently though....

Ingredients

450g/1lb basmati rice (for a more authentic flavour and texture it is best not to use easy-cook rice; however, it will still work and be very tasty if you do)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
large knob butter, plus extra to serve
4 cardamom pods ( used bout 8)
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick ( give it a wack so it breaks into a few pieces)
pinch saffron threads (too ex here so I used immitation saffron to give it a nice yellow orangy colour)
2 bay leaves ( i put 5 or 6)
600ml/1 pint hot chicken stock, vegetable stock or watersalt ( chicken stock is recommended)

Method

1. To make sure you get lovely fluffy rice, wash it in several changes of cold water, then leave to soak for about 30 minutes in fresh cold water. If you don't have time for this, place in a sieve and wash under the cold tap for a minute or so.
2. Cook the onion in the butter for around 5 minutes until softened. Add the spices, saffron and bay leaves and cook for a couple more minutes. The spices will give a wonderful fragrant flavour to the rice. Add the rice and stir until the grains are coated in the butter before stirring in the stock or water and salt. Bring to the boil and then cover with a tight-fitting lid. If the lid isn't very tight, cover the pan with aluminium foil before putting the lid on. Turn the heat down low and leave to cook for 10 minutes before turning off the heat. Don't remove the lid; just leave the rice to continue cooking in the pan for about 5 minutes until you're ready to serve.
3. The rice should have absorbed all the water and will just need fluffing up with a fork. Add a knob of butter before serving.

Tried cooking the rice like the 1st recipe, but it didn't work, rice was too undercooked. her curry recipe is good though.

Overall, a very successful cooking session with 5 happy and full people after. Daryl gave me 99% for my nasi beriani and lamb curry, said it was better than restaurant standard. Whether he was trying to flatter me into cooking more for him, that's debatable.

today i feel like an unkind person....

beware of what you ask for.... you might jus have your prayer answered in ways you did not expect. i m reading A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado, and i feel there are areas in my life when it comes to loving people that i NEED to change... so there, reading and then applying... so i asked God for situations where i may love people and put others before myself... and find that it wasn't so easy after all.... to put myself 2nd and consider them 1st...

1st scenario... dirty, dodgy looking man ( look at the judmental words ) came up the bus, sat in front of me, started to talk to me, telling me he's from Darwin, has been staying at the salvation army for a couple of months, got his own palce now, started asking me bow to speak bahasa malaysia... after a while took out a bottle of beer and started drinking beer at 1pm in the afternoon.

my reaction: cringing inside, oh no!! still got long way to go before my stop, pls let him get down soon... he's so weird. might be intoxicated. mentally tried to do a mental state exam on him ( good patient to practise on k?) okie, try to be nice. jus talk to him. but don't be too friendly. so it was all so weird, trying to look sideways to indicate, i don't really wanna talk. half thinking, if this were one fo God's angels, i have just failed the big test. i wonder how Jesus reached out to those who were beggars, ugly, dirty.... and not feel that stranger awareness and protect yourself from these weird people feelings. God, help! i know Love is Kind. i am so not kind or nice... i need a mental revamp!! i didn't realise such things so much before, but after reading the chapter on love is kind.... i'm so not it!


2nd scenario... patient in a wheelchair in the hospital's lobby. spilt milo/coffee on the floor. he could have waited for someone to come and clean it, everyone would understand. he was wheelchair bound after all. but he wanted to clean up the mess himself, so there he was with a bunch of newspapers trying to wipe the mess. from the wheelchair. i was there. just walked out of the bank. wondering should i help him? and decided then that i had other things to do. how mean is dat!!! i half kept an eye on him to see if anyone else would help him... and this other bloke came and help him, i feel better for him, worse for myself. you could have been the one who ran there n helped him cleaned up the mess. selfishness.... preoccupied with my ownself... Love is not self seeking. i think i was pretty darn selfish.

got other scenarios as well, but since this is not beating up myself session, i shan't go too much into them.... just to show me reality of my own soul and character, i have to change. i want to change. i am going to change.

step 1 comes from realising, why I wanna change. because He 1st loved me.