Fairy Cake

Again,baking is not my thing. My girlfriend made these, so i dont know how to make these. But it sure is nice. Fairy cakes they are called, with chocolate nutella icing

Rude Birds! (Grilled Quails with Thai Red Curry)

These may look like baby chickens sitting on a plate but they are actually quails the size of a regular chicken thigh. I bought them weeks ago but i wasn't sure how to cook them . So when in doubt ; GRILL! But i curried them first hand.

Stuff you'll need:
8 quails
2 Tbsp Thai Red curry paste
1 thumb sized galangal, sliced thinly
1 lemon grass stalk,bruised
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp tumeric
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 cups of water
1/2 cup of coconut cream
10 lime leaves
A handful of chives
Salt


What you'll need to do:
Marinate the quails with tumeric mixed with a cup of water and salt
1. Heat oil in a pot and add in the curry paste, galangal and lemon grass and fry until fragrant.Careful not to burn it.
2. Add in the water and salt and bring to a boil and then simmer
3. Add in the quails and cook for 25 minutes.
4. Add in the coconut cream to thicken and the lime leaves and boil for another 5 minutes.

The next stage is to grill the quails. Grill them 10-15 minutes on each side until golden brown and slightly charred.

I was slightly put off by their legs spread so wide apart like frogs so i tied the legs up with strands of chives haha. My OCD kicking in there. It does have a distinct taste compared to chicken. Quite tender and cute. As for the curry, fragrant,hot, sour. Just how a thai curry should taste like

Tongue on fire! (Prawn and egg plant sambal)

Sainsbury's has got jumbo king prawns on offer right now so that was a good enough excuse for me to splurge on prawns. It's also my first time working with egg plants here. Yeah, so sambal, the ultimate malay condiment and the signature malay cooking style. If the british loves to roast, the texans love to deep fry,the indian's love to curry and the chinese love to stir-fry, then the malays especially loves to nyambal! Basically it's a hot chilli paste made with bags of blended caramelised onions and dried chillis. Infused with belachan(shrimp paste) and sweet soy sauce at times.


Got-to-have's:
5 large onions
2 tablespoons of chilli paste
3 Tablespoons of sweet soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 Tablespoon of tamarind paste, dissolved in half a cup of water.
1 Tsp of belachan paste
salt to taste

500g of prawns.
1 medium sized egg plant, cubed.

Whatcha gonna do:
Firstly, chop the onions roughly and mince using a blender or a hand liquidizer.(I prefer the latter because it's more fun and easier to clean). Yeah, so blend the onions But it is ctuciall that you blend it with oil and not water, or it will become runny.

Add in the chilli paste into the blender as well.

Heat oil in a wok, add in the belachan paste and pour the mixture. Fry for around 2o minutes until fragrant and it turns delightfully dark crimson. Next add the sweet soy sauce, sugar and salt and tamarind and stir for 5 minutes..

Lastly put in the egg plant and prawns and stir for about 5 minutes until cooked. Note: It helps remove the bitter taste from the eggplant by boiling the eggplant with a bit of salt for around 8 minutes before hand.

Verdict:
Not for the mild tongued, the faint hearted and the seafood allergy sufferers.haha. Especially good for punishing pottymouthed children.Kidding. But it's quite hot and i wouldn't mind another tablespoon of sugar in there. But any dish with prawns in it, i'm happy with. You could omit the eggplant if it doesn't tickle your fancy. I just added them for volume.hehe

Mee cinta

Love noodles~~~. Haha, just a fancy name with a story behind it.
Anyways, these are egg noodles in spicy chicken curry.

The essentials:

2 eggs
3 packets of egg noodles(approx 700g)
beansprouts
A bunch of coriander
1 Thumbsized ginger,sliced
1 stalk of lemon grass bruised
2 chillies, cut
5 large onions and 1 clove of garlic blended.
3 Tbsp of curry mixed with 1/2 cup of water
4 boneless chicken thighs, deboned and cut into bite sized pieces.
1 Tsp belachan paste
1 Tbsp Chilli paste
5 cups of water
Salt
pepper
1 Tbsp of tamarind paste
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup coconut cream

The insruction manual:
Boil the egg noodles for 5 minutes with salt and a little oil until cooked and run under cold water.

To make the curry,
Heat oil, and fry the garlic and lemon grass
Fry the blended onion and garlic until fragrant and caramelised. Around 10 minutes.
Then, add the curry paste,chilli paste and belachan until fragrant as well
Add the water and bring to a boil.
Add in the chicken pieces and simmer for 25 minutes.
Add the tamarind, salt,sugar and pepper
To thicken, add the coconut cream and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with hard boiled eggs, chilli,chopped coriander,beansprouts and lime.
Yum.

Richness,tang and heat wrapped into one. Just nice. What would be even more fantastic is by liquidisng boiled sweet potato into the curry to give it that extra smoothness,thickness and sweetness. mmm

LASARNIE~~

This is how one of the foodstalls in brunei spelled lasagna. Funny. An yways, i didn't make this. My girlfriend made this masterpiece on her turn to make dinner. Vegetable lasagna topped with pepproni and tomato. A classic Northern italian dinner in the winter months.

I just made the white sauce and the pepperoni and tomato toppings. Being a student, i suggest Dolmio's ready made tomato sauces. It's equally good and saves you a lot of time. We used vegemince from sainsbury's for the mince, which tasted a bit like bread and chicken. Again, much more convenient and tastes quite nice.

So,
the must-have's:
Red Sauce:
1 kg of vegemince
1 jar of family sized dolmio sauce
pasta sheets, enough to cover the tray.
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 clove of garlic chopped finely
mixed herbs.
2 handfuls of spinach

White sauce:
3 cups of milk
3 Tbsp Plain flour
salt&pepper to taste
dried thyme


Toppings:
1 beef tomato sliced
10 cm of pepperoni sliced
6 spinach leaves
300g mozzarella cheese
500g of mild cheese.

Read the instructions:
1. Heat oil in a pot and fry the garlic and onions until fragrant and caramelised.
2. Add the vegemince and stir fry for a minute
3. Add in the dolmio sauce , bring to a boil and simmer
4. Add salt, sugar and pepper to taste. A chicken stock cube won't hurt either.
Cook for at least 10-15 minutes.

In a separate pan, make the white sauce by heating oil and putting in the flour straight into the pan. No water
Then add in the milk and simmer unti the sauce thickens around 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and thyme.

Next, in a baking tray, spread the red sauce into a single layer and sprinkle the first handful of spinach.
Then, line the pasta sheets until it covers the tray amd press firmly.
Next, the white sauce a handful of mild cheese,sheets. Next, more red sauce, sheets.

Finally red sauce, topped with white sauce and another handful of spinach. The rest of the cheese and top with the pepperoni and tomato.

Pop it in the oven Gas mark 6 for an hour and done!

Never underestimate a slice of lasagna, It is 2 times more filling than the same volume of spaghetti. Quite viscous to swallow so i suggest a another cup of water to the red sauce. The topping looks really colourful and attractive though. Warming and filling nonetheless.

Untitled

Fried Kwetiyau for lunch. I'm not sure how to spell it. A hawker's food stall staple and a favourite among locals.My dad absolutely adores them. It's basically flat rice noodles stirfried in soy sauce and chilli paste with tofu,beansprouts,pak choy and seafood.

What you'll need:
400g of seafood. I used prawns,mussels and calamari.
A 400g pack of broad flat rice noodles
A handful of beansprouts
A block of firm tofu, diced
4 garlic cloves
10 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp of chilli paste
2 Tbsp of light soy sauce
2 stalks of pak choy
5 stalks of chives cut into medium lengths

How to make them?
Boil the rice noodles for 5 minutes until cooked.
Fry the chopped garlic and the chilli paste until fragrant. Careful not to burn it like i almost did.
Quickly add in the beaten eggs and stir quickly
Add in the seafood and tofu and stir fry until cooked for at least 3 minutes
Add in the noodles and the soy sauces and stir fry on high heat.
Lastly, add in the pakchoy,chives and beansprouts until wilted.

Cooking it under really high heat, it creates this charred crust on the bottom, which gives kue tiao that signature smoky,nutty flavour. Something to do with the mythical "wok's breath".So dont panic if the noodles start sticking on the pan. Just scrape the crust and mix with the noodles! Voila! Served best with pickled chillis and sweet chilli. Yum.
Mine was a bit too hot since i put 2 tablespoons of chilli paste.
Have a go at it!

I love Thai Food

A few pictures that i haven't manage to upload till now because of my manic schedule.

Langoustines in Sweet chilli Garlic Butter Sauce and Pandan chicken, using wings instead. I'll post the recipes later. Busy busy

Pan seared trout with raspberry salsa

Rainbow trout that is. Meaty texture and mild flavour. Brilliantly orange in colour. Pan seared for 10 minutes, turning once. Heat some olive oil and a bit of butter, chopped garlic clove, rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Absolutely tasty. Crispy skin and moist meat.

The salsa? Mix a handful of raspberries into a bowl, with chopped coriander, chopped chillies,chopped onions, salt, sugar an lemon juice. Furiously crimson in colour and adds a fiery hot and tangy kick to the fish. A tad too hot though, i think it would be better of using capsicums.

Pleasure on a Plate

Pasta with seafood sauce or Pasta con Frutti di Mare as Sicilians call it. Do you know how much this costs to make? 3 pounds! Yes, the seafood costs 3 pounds from the frozen food genius;Iceland. Surprisingly, it was as succulent,juicy and flavoursome as fresh seafood from the market. Just pop the packet in the oven for 40 mins, Gas mark 7 and voila! That's when the juices start to exude and make your mouth water. Seriously good stuff i tell you.

My second version of seafood pasta, much simpler, but personally, tastes loads better. Cheaper too. The difference is no canned tomatoes,tomato puree,basil and grape juice so the sauce from the seafood is just pure and clear. Not overpowered by other ingredients . Just chop half of a beef tomato and toss in the pasta, drizzle olive oil, sprinkle parsley and season with salt. Simplicity never tasted better!

Happy Hari Raya!

Last sunday saw LufBru's Raya celebration. Good delicious food, great people and great fun! It was a potluck event so every house brought bits of food. Our house went all out on this and brought Smoked Salmon Bruschetta for starters, Mee Mamak, Nasi Briyani and Lamb Curry for mains. Our lovely neighbours brought their trademark Orgasmic Tiramisu.(Featured in June 2008 Hehe). I cooked from 7am to 12noon along wit Zaw. It was worth it cos we got the prestigious best main course award for Mee Mamak! haha. The prize was a cert and a brand new wok!

So Zaw made the Nasi Biryani and Lamb Curry and i made the bruschetta and the mee mamak. Here you go

Naughty But Nice

It's good to be back in Loughborough. Where it's never hot and sweaty. Free from people judging what you wear and do. We moved in to our new home where i got a smaller but a warmer and prettier room. It wasn't long enough before i started cooking again after my 2 month hiatus. Just been busy with dissertations,endless errands and plenty of eating out.

One of my first creations after a few days of cooking with ready made sauces. Oven roasted drumstick lodged with a long and meaty sausage. I know,naughty right? but nice~~~~
Accompanied with hot crisp hash cut fries and my version of ratatouille. Mediterranean vegetables; courgettes, tomatoes, roasted peppers and grilled onions cooked in basil and tomato sauce with a sprinkle of thyme.

The one below is my daring take on pasta with sardines in rich tomato sauce.Salmon with pasta yes, but sardines?It's what i call creating something out of nothing. What looks like a fancy tenner's worth actually costs only 2 pounds to make.

Thick and tangy sauce with the bold flavour of rich sardines. Funnily enough, the fresh breath of herbs cuts through the strong fishy taste of what could otherwise be an awkward tasting dish.

The How to's:
Oven roasted sausage stuffed chicken
4 Chicken drumsticks deboned.
4 beef sausages
a chopped onion
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil to drizzle
1 tsp Paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp of dried mixed herbs.

Clean the chicken and debone it. Then lodge the sausage into the drumstick cavity. Grease the baking tray. Place the chicken and sprinkle with seasoning, paprika and mixed herbs all over. Sautee the onions and garlic until caramelised. sprinkle on top of the chicken. Lasty drizzle with olive oil and shove in the oven for an hour Gas mark 7. Make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked when ready. Enjoy.

Pasta with sardines in tomato sauce
1 canned sardines in tomato sauce.
200g pasta
1 large onion chopped.
3 cloves of garlic chopped.
2 carrots and 2 celery stalks.
2 Tbsp sugar
sprigs of thyme.
Chicken stock and pepper
A tube of tomato puree.

First, fry the onion and garlic and onion until fragrant. Then add the chopped carrots and celery for 10 minutes stirring constantly. Squeeze in the tomato puree and simmer for another 10 minutes adding water if necessary. Add the sugar and stir.Add the can of sardines lastly and cook for a further 2 minutes. Season well and add the thyme during the cooking process and for garnish

Hearty Breakfast

Chili omelette wrapped in strips of smoked beef with sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes on the side. Delicious but caution:loaded with cholestrol!

Pan seared Honey Garlic Lamb Chops

My first post in 3 weeks i guess? I've been really busy and lazy to cook anything. Anyways, mum bought some lambchops and i might as well get those cooking juices flowing back again. Marinate the lamb in honey, chopped garlic, and season with salt and pepper for at least and hour.Then seared in a hot oiled pan to give it a crust from the caramelised honey. Simple yet fantastic! Look at the glistening piece of meat and drool. The characteristic aroma, the sweet taste and the succulent texture makes your taste buds beg for mor every bite.The lingering smell of lamb pleasantly sticks to your hands and clothes. How nice it smells.hehe

My Beef Debut. (and Egg TOFU~~~)

Beef braised in sweet soy sauce.Pound the beef cuts crazily using a meat tenderizer!I used a stone pestle.Then marinade the meat in oyster sauce for at least half an hour.Slowly heat oil and put in chopped garlic,shallots and ginger until fragrant. Put in the meat pieces and pour sweet soy sauce over it.Drop an assam kulit in the pot.Season with pepper and chicken stock.Pour three cups of water,bring it to a boil, cover and let it simmer for an hour at least.This is to reduce the sauce into thick gravy and to ensure the meat turns soft,tender and crumbles in your mouth.The magical combination of sweet and sour is like a match made in heaven. The fundamentals of Malay cooking.

Vegetables for lunch? Egg tofu, pakchoi and baby angel mushrooms, stir fried in garlic sauce. Tofu is versatile and comes in different shapes and textures. A staple in many asian cooking.The type I'm using egg tofu(My Favourite kind) is soft and delicate yet does not break when stir fried.

Nesting Phoenix

Lame name i know, but chinese dishes usually have mystical names.So this is Chicken in oyster sauce 'Szechuan style'with crispy rice noodles. The signature of szechuan cuisine are Hot and Fiery. What makes this different is the generous amount of peppercorns and hot chillies.

Sweet and sour mango fish

So I'm given some rumahan fish to cook. It's a local mackerel species the length of your hand, soft texture and bold flavour. It's usually boiled or fried, so i experimented and filleted these fish, coated them with breadcrumbs and fried them. Then i made the sweet and sour sauce, usually with pineapple and green pepper, but since I'm working with limited ingredients, I substituted them with tangy ripe mangoes and red chillies.It tastes even better!The sharp tasting mangoes works well to cut through that strong fish taste.Sprinkle with chinese parsley in the end.

Ikan Assam Pedas& Treasure cheese cake

Okay, so i just learned that we're gonna be having fish every day and we're only allowed chicken once a week, as part of a "healthy" diet that my mom just set. To make matters more interesting, our maid is now on a one month leave so guess who's cooking from now onwards? haha.
So here's what i made last night, ikan assam pedas, the secret ingredient is the intensely fragrant bunga kantan(wild ginger bud).Really zings up the dish. Sour,sweet,fragrant,spicy. The signature flavours of Malay cooking. I'll write down the recipe later.

The masterminds behind the treasure cheesecake are my sisters, using crushed cocopuffs as the base. The fancy toppings are white chocolate covered strawberry and chocolate buttermilk rolls.Good luck finding it in Brunei. hehe.It's from M&S. Crunch&Cream,Rich&Sweet. Just what i crave for in a dessert.

Messy fried icecream

Sorry for the messy presentation, and the poor lighting but i just can't help posting this weird desert. Fried ice cream? My sister made this marvel. Looks like she's got a few tricks of her own up her sleeve as well.Like brother like sister.hehe. Fried ice cream. How did she make it?

Scoop ice cream and shape them into fist-sized balls. Dip them in egg white, and coat them in breadcrumbs mixed with dessicated coconut. Put them in the freezer over night and repeat the coating process before frying it. Make sure you use a non stick frying pan (or it will stick and break as seen in the picture)and fry them for just one minute.
What does it taste like? Warm and crisp to the bite on the outside and soothingly cool,rich and creamy on the inside.Mmmmm....

Makan besar2an

A post in Malay,here goes
Zw masak lamb curry.
Aku masak Nasi Biryani
Hz buat orgasmic Tiramisu.
Hehe. ..Busy packing.Karang balik

CHicken tonight

Chicken pasta bake with sauteed mushrooms.

I used mushroom soup for the sauce with garlic and onions(chopped and fried first) leeks, celery,green peppers and thyme.
Put the pasta on a baking tray.Pour the sauce over the pasta and cover generously with cheese.
Sautee' the mushrooms separately and sprinkle on top of the bake.
Shove it in the oven gas mark 6 for 40 minutes.

Snack time

Ermm, i'm so hungry rite now that i could eat a horse.I just treated myself with chilli scrambled eggs. I guess this is one of the simple things in life that you should do before you die.Make yourself this simple dish.Scrambled eggs with lots and lots of chilli sauce.

(exams are over!HEAVEN~~)