Portuguese tarts

I'm testing desserts for Christmas week as we are having Christmas in our own house..yay!! One of the recipes that's made the list is the portuguese tart. This is Jamie Oliver's quick recipe so not quite the real McCoy. Using ready made puff pastry, it was quick and easy and tasted lovely!

Fresh Fruit Cheesecake

This will be the last of the marathon of posts for today. This is a no bake cheesecake and finally one that is successful. No bake cheesecakes have never been one that I managed to master before, that is until a friend of mine shared a tip on ensuring the gelatine sets and suddenly voila! no bake cheesecake that behaves as it should! I flavoured mine with lemon and vanilla bean paste and topped it with fresh fruits, refreshing!

A slice topped with Kiwi fruit

Murtabak

This is another dish that I've been craving for, for a while now. It will sound strange but it is actually the pickled red onion that I crave for rather than the roti itself. When bought from the stalls, you usually get a tiny amount of the pickled onions. So since it has been a successful attempt, the murtabak man can keep his pickled onions as now I know how to make them myself.

Roti Jala 2

This is a second posting of roti jala. Instead of the usual chinese style chicken curry that we make for Christmas in my house (yes, roti jala is a staple on our Christmas menu), I tried a new nonya bawang merah (shallots) chicken curry. The verdict? the 'original' chinese style chicken curry is still best!

Pork ribs soup

This is an adaptation of the nourishing chicken soup that my friend taught me to make during my confinement so it does not have a proper name and therefore I shall call it pork ribs soup akin to calling a spade a spade. I used pork ribs in place of chicken and the result is tender meat falling off the bone. Dunked in soya sauce with cili padi (because it is not for confinement) and eaten with plain boiled rice, leaves a warm feeling in the tummy, perfect for a cold winter's day!

Pulut Inti

It's Wai Leng's birthday and time for a potluck lunch at her house. I needed something that is easy and does not require a lot of attetntion when cooking, I decided on pulut inti. After making two unsuccessful trips to the chinese supermarket to buy banana leaves and pandan leaves (no stock), authenticity had to be abandoned. I used pandan flavouring and had to resort to plastic bags for wrapping. For ease of eating, I made them bite sized.


Wrapped in plastic and ready to go

Padprik Ayam

This is another that has been a long time coming and finally the search is over, I've found the recipe that is close to the ones made by the malay stalls. The unfortunate thing is that I have no idea where I got the recipe from, all I have is just a piece of paper with the recipe written on it so I can't go back and try other recipes from the same cook :-(
Nevertheless, I will definately cook this again. Now, I wonder how daging masak merah is cooked??!!

Nourishing Chicken Soup (Confinement)

During my confinement, my friend, Christine made this delicious and nourishing soup for me. With a slow cooker, I was able to replicate the soup which is made with red dates, black dates, longan, goji berry (kei chi) and ginger. Place everything into the slow cooker and let it simmer happily away for 4 hours or till the chicken meat is tender.



The key ingredients: red dates, black dates, longan, goji berry and ginger.

Nasi Lemak

I was planning to have a yummy lunch of nasi lemak today, however, things went a bit chaotic when I suddenly got a call that the electrician was coming over in an hour's time to fix the wiring on the cooker hood! Problem was most people here have yet to experience the wonderful smell of fried ikan bilis so it was a race to get it all cooked and leave enough time to air out the kitchen before the man arrives! I managed it all in the nick of time but unfortunately, there was not enough time to hard boil the egg so I ended up with a fried egg instead.

The finished dish, complete with banana leaf!

Sweet Buns

I have been wanting to make soft sweet buns for a long time, you know the kind we used to get from KFC? I've finally found a recipe that came really close, while I excitedly tried it out, it almost became a disaster as I halved the recipe which was meant to yield 16 buns, which is too many for me. I carefully halved all the ingredients and then misread the amount of water of 100 ml as 1000ml!! It was lucky that I only poured 150ml of the water into the dough before realising something was not right and rechecked the recipe. I managed to double back the other ingredients and the end result was soft, fluffy and sweet buns!

Nasi Goreng Kampung

The other day, I suddenly had a craving for Nasi Goreng Kampung, so I searched the web for a recipe. Since it was an impromptu decision to cook this dish, I had to raid my store cupboard and fridge, hoping that I will have all the required ingredients. Except for the right type of vegetable, i.e. chai sim, I had some kangkung so it will have to do. I also popped in some left over beef but as long as the main ingredients of ikan bilis and cili padi was present I was happy enough with the result!

You will notice that my nasi goreng kampung is darker then normal, I do like my soya sauce a tad too much!

Ginger Beef and Asparagus stir fry

If you like ginger then this is the dish for you. Slivers of ginger are fried till golden and fragrant then seasoned beef and asparagus is added. Stir-fry for a few minutes till the asparagus cooks to the desired 'crunch', dish up and serve with steamed rice...delicious! I like to eat this dish with chopsticks and rice served in a bowl, a strange quirk but somehow it tastes better this way!

Blueberry Sour Cream cake

This is a very easy cake to do. Step 1, measure all the ingredients, Step 2 mix all the ingredients together, Step 3 stir in the blueberries and lastly pop into the oven and bake! Easy peasy, and 30 minutes later you have a lovely, moist cake to enjoy!

Unfortunately the colour of the blueberry in the photo does not look apertising but that's really the best bit of the cake!

Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemon

This is from Jamie Oliver's latest book, Jamie Does. Flavoured with preserved lemon and olives and then stewed till the meat falls off the bone, a very hearty meal served with lightly seasoned couscous.

Kuih Bahulu

I'm not sure if these little eggy sponge cakes are Malay in origin or not. As with many Malaysian cakes and food, all the various different races seem to have their own version so the origin is unknown. Anyway, since I brought the mould back from Penang, I have to try baking this cake though I not really a fan. The recipe was randomly picked from the web, based on how convincing the recipe sounded! The first few rounds were fine then disaster struck, the cakes were stuck in the mould and simply refused to pop out! But still edible!

Blueberry pancakes

On weekends when I'm looking for something a bit special for a leisurely breakfast, this never fails. This is an american sytle pancake filled with juicy blueberries, ready to burst when cut open, served with maple syrup, it makes a really good start to the weekend.

Fluffy inside with the blueberry ready to burst!

Ayam masak masam manis

This is malay style sweet and sour chicken. The chicken is first marinated in tumeric and salt and then pan fried instead of being battered the chinese sweet and sour style. Next the sweet, sour and (because its a malay dish) spicy sauce is made and mixed with the fried chicken. Serve with steamed rice.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

It's Duncan's birthday so it's time to get baking. Birthdays must always be celebrated with cake, that's my philosophy. This time it's Lemon Drizzle, soft light sponge with it's crunchy sugary topping is just great if you are looking for something sweet but not heavy, perfect dessert to finish with if you have a heavy main meal.

Jam Tarts

Jam tarts come in many different shapes and sizes. These are ones which I like to refer to as Malay style jam tarts. Though it takes time to pipe out the pastry and then roll it, it's worth the effort as they are really morish and simply melt in your mouth. Needless to say, the jam has to be homemade pineapple jam, lightly flavoured with spices to give it that special taste. Delicious!!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Crispy battered chicken with crunchy vegetables served with a sweet and sour sauce, this makes a one dish meal when served with steamed rice. Though very common in the UK takeways (ehmm, they are not quite like the ones we have at home as below), this dish is not a common dish during mealtimes at home when I was a kid, it is usually ordered in the 'chu char' restaurant when we have a special occasion and get to eat out.

Food crazy in Penang

I was home for chinese new year 2010 and what is the favourite pastime in Penang if not eating? As usual, on all my trips home, I had to visit each of my favourite food haunts. Sadly, some have disappeared but I did discover some new ones. Above is a small snapshot of the delicious food I had, some of the dishes didnt get a chance to be photographed as I was too excited about eating and forgot all about taking a photograph... may Penang remain the food paradise of Malaysia!

Indian Mee Goreng

Indian fried noodles ...where to start, in Penang there are numerous stalls selling mee goreng, some are mobile and some are not but you need to know which are the good ones! This fried noodles dish requires quite a lot of preparation as you need to prepare the base chilly sauce as well as all the accompanying garnishes separately. However, all the preparation is done, it only takes about 5 minutes to fry up the dish and just a little more time than that to devour the whole plate of noodles! But it is worth the effort!

French Loaf

We just moved into a new house and as a present to myself, I bought a heavy duty mixer. So after hours of kneading dough by hand, now it is time for some serious bread making. The first attempt is this fabulous french loaf (the recipe really is called fabulous french loaf). The result was la oaf which is fluffy on the inside with a nice crunchy crust. This will go really well with a hearty soup. Still good the next day but fabulous just out of the oven!




The rustic looking loaf, whole and sliced

O Bak (Soya Sauce Pork)

This is my comfort food, this is a dish cooked by my late grandmother. It is a shame that I never got any recipes from her before she passed away as she was a wonderful cook. It took me a while to perfect the taste of this dish but I think I have it right this time. This is a very simple dish of fried potato slices, pork and onions cooked in dark soya sauce. Serve it with steamed rice and I revert to being a small little girl in pigtails having lunch before afternoon school.

If you crave it, cook it is taking a break!

If you crave it, cook it will be back in February!