28.2.09

0010 - Beef Nachos with Salsa & Guacamole

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It was really nice to actually have someone who can make Westernized dishes :) Ok, so it's Mexican, but what the heck yeah. Matt had fun in the kitchen couple nights ago making dinner for me. I actually quite like the dish and wouldn't mind having it again & again. Although, i must say, Matt's not convinced when i told him i like it. Maybe he was expecting me to jump in eagerness like a 5-year-old would? But that's besides the point. The point here will be, it was unfortunate that Fadli & Sheifa wasn't home to try it out and since Amin & Nadia alredy had their dinner, Matt was at my service. LoL!

This is definitely not the kind of staple food i would normally ever eat in Singapore, and it was definitely my first time having a home-made Mexican dish. So, really. I do like it. I requested for him to do one in either Chicken, or Fish. If that's possible of course. HaHa. We'll see.

Guacamole
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Mash & Mix One fine Avocado from Coles and One tablespoon of Sambal Oleck. Matt added the Sambal just to please me. You can do without it if you don't want to but it's totally up to you what kinds of Chilli you want to mix it with. :)

Salsa
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A can of Diced Tomatoes, or if you want, cut up your own tomatoes :) Two tablespoons of blended Red Onions, One of Garlic, 1/2 a Lemon, a sprinkle of grounded Coriander & cut up some Basil leaves Mint leaves. Mix them well & good... You're good to go!

Beef Nachos
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He grated some cheese and spread it evenly on the tray with a bag of Doritos Nachos Cheese. This selection of chips will be entirely up to your preference of course ;) He simmered some chopped up (Halal) Beef we got from Yuen's Market at Fortitude Valley in Vegetable Oil or was it Butter? Hmmm... i can't remember, but i'm sure we can figure out that either or will work just fine yeah. He placed just 1 Beef Stock to get a little bit of the taste. We open a can of Chilli Beans we got from Woolsworth and simply mix them well & good in that heat.

You're pretty much good to go after that!

15.2.09

0009 - Soup Hana-Sheifa 2.0

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We were shopping for house neccessities at Coles like detergent and all - haha. Mid-way shopping, we were wondering what to have for dinner... and of course since we're in the supermarket, perfect place to get our ingredients for... Soup 2.0!

Since Sheifa already have most of the ingredients, we only get some Mushrooms, Parsley and Chicken stock. That's it.


We boiled a litre of water and stirred in 4 cube of Chicken stocks (Maggi brand). It would have been only 2 stocks if i used the Knorr ones which i used in Soup 1.0 but anyway, that's besides the point.

Sheifa had Chicken breasts (yaay!) which we decided to add as the main ingredient, sliced in whicever way you want. And it was just nice & enough for the 3 of us, Sheifa, Fadli & myself. Always a yes when there's Chicken for me anyway :) You can actually place the chicken later. It cooked really quickly in that boiling pot.

Next was 1 carrot sliced thinly, 4 potatoes sliced in cubes and 4 average sized white-colored mushrooms sliced in 3s. We didn't use button mushrooms, and athough i'm not the biggest fans of mushrooms i personally think i am sticking with the button ones. So anyway, we added some black pepper mid-way... of course i had to since it's one of my favorite ingredients. Hah.

And that was it really. We just let it boil and broke in 4 eggs. The final touch was some parsley sliced thinly. It's not my favorite herb in the world but we experimented anyway. Next time, i don't think i want any parsley. HaHa.


Sheifa didn't have enough bowls at her place but that was fine. I just separated most of my into a different bowl :)


My first home-made dinner away from home. Nothing fantastic but...

Yaay :)

12.2.09

0008 - Sambal Belacan 1.0

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Toasted Shrimp Paste (Belacan) placed over slow fire till it's brownish as shown above. Mash into pieces.


Slice all of your Red & Chilli and dry blend them all. Yes, dry blend. No adding of water.


Depending on how much lime you have, need or want. Squeeze all the life out of them limes and just make sure you get rid of the seeds of course :)


See that "sand-look-a-like" powder above the mix of chilli & lime? That's the Toasted Shrimp Paste dry blended. Ouh. Add maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt here as well. Not too much coz you don't want the sauce to be salty. Now mix them all up really good...


And you've got yourself the Sambal Belacan 1.0!

*

There are many different types of making Sambal Belacan, depending, especially where you come from. Ingredients can range from sour mangoes, or equivalent local fruits to sugar. Yes... sugar. Weird huh.

Well, today's Sambal Belacan that i learnt from my mum is super-simple. The ingredients are only Fresh Green & Red Chilli, some Lime, toasted Shrimp Paste (belacan) & 1/2tsp of Salt. That's about all. Unlike the Mexican Sauce, Turkish Sauce, Indian Sauce, Whatever Sauce... this one, in my humble opinion is only nice eaten with warm rice accompanied by leavy vegetables.

This recipe, is very Melayu :)

1.2.09

0007 - Soup Hana 1.0

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This is another one of my many easy dish that i learn from my mum by just watching her. Of course you food/cook afficionados will be smirking at me for this is actually so easy, even a 12-yr-old can do it. Damn.

I SAY IT AGAIN and this shalln't be the last, Never too late right?

:)


I didn't get a picture but all of you would be familiar with the Knorr Chicken Cube Stocks which you can get from any supermarkets yeah. Hope it's easy to find when i'm out of Singapore too... Heh.

Since i didn't wanna eat rice (coz it's seriously getting boring & of course fattening), i soaked my Mee Hoon in boiling water. That would have been the staple for me today. Normally, you would drain the water after soaking it, just like how you would when you do spaghetti yeah? But, well, i, umm... didn't. Remember, totally up to you! HaHaHa!

I threw in only 1 cube of Knorr when the boiling saucepan seems to have reached it's ultimate peak. And of course, i just added in more water. Quantity of H20 will depend on how many mouths you intend to feed. In my case earlier this afternoon, was only for me. But of couse, i ended up with excess. I think i made enough for 2 or even 3 :-p


Sine there wasn't anything else to my fancy in the fridge, i dug out 2 Potatoes & 1/2 a Carrot from my mum's dry stock. Cut them to your ideal sizes, Soak them a bit, Drain them... and threw it into the boiling saucepan. Seriously, my style of cooking is really the pemalas nak mampos kan? Like my previous entries, i sprinkled some black pepper. Addicted.
Turn up the fire and let it simmer for awhile.


When you feel the carrots & potatoes are "half-baked", you can break eggs into the boiling saucepan. Remember to lower down the fire when you do this. Break them eggs gently, if you want them cooked in perfection ;) Once again, increase the fire when you're done and of course, let it gargle in heat for awhile.


I found some parsley in the fridge. Cool. Slice them thinly and garnish the whole soup when it looks 99% done in that super hot saucepan lah. Voila~!


My lunch today...! I sprinkle a little bit more pepper just because.

Mum came home saying that it's not bad for i cook proper today without her supervision. You know, i'd actually be happier if there's dried onion flakes - that'll be my ultimate garnish :)

0006 - Sweet Homemade Salsus

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Grab a handful of dried chilli (yes, my favorite ingredient to date), chopped them up into thin-to-medium pieces and soak them for a minute of two. Rinse them out and give it a good blend with maybe 1/2 a cup of water?


Place the blended chilli aside, grab a few pieces of Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) and chop them into little random pieces. Have them all in your boiling saucepan with water that covers just enough the surface of your sugar. Heat them up in medium fire.


Be reminded to constantly stir the mix of sugar & water, coz you don't wanna burn them. Make sure the fire is set to small when it's about half caramelized yeah ;) Remember the blended chillie earlier? Mix them all in when you're sure the Gula Melaka has all melted. Don't forget... maintain that slow fire!


Grab a bottle of Maggie Tomato Sauce and pour 1/2 the bottle in. Don't worry... it won't taste sour. This time round you can increase that fire a little bit. Keep stirring and mix them all up real good... and you're done! Yaay! No additional water needed over here.


Served best with that hot & crispy springroll!

The best part about homemade sauces, you can refrigerate them if you've got excess and use it the next time you make more springrolls, samosas, fried chips, etc! Just make sure you seal it well & good... :)

I love this sauce lah!

0005 - Potato & Carrot Springroll

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By far, the easiest appetizer to make... and i only learn it a week ago. Well, never too late right?

:)


We cut into cubes 2 Carrots & about 6 Potatoes. You've got to do your weightage as to how much carrots and potatoes you want. As always, my cooking experience with mum all relies on,
"Totally up to you" mantra, if you haven't notice by now.


Only 1 Fresh Chilli & 2 White Onions is needed for blending, off they go into the simmering cooking oil. Oil here, will be in moderation of course.


Once we've got the spices all nice & scented in the kitchen ;), we drained the soaked carrots & potatoes... throw them into the hot wok. Over here, we've to add salt in moderation. Entirely up to you i guess. Maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt will suffice? Mix them all up well & good, and you're good to go.
Scoop them up into a layered bowl so that the excess oil can drain yeah. You don't want to be wrapping spiced carrots & potatoes soaked in oil now, do we?


We should get the pastry out of the freezer and thaw it out. Having done that, break 3 or 4 eggs and fry them up lightly. Again, *altogether now!* this is totally up to you!


Roll them eggs and cut them thinly into pieces.
Once you're ready to wrap them up, make sure you've got a damp towel over the pastry yeah! Just look at the photo above for guidance :) I think i'm referring to myself in this case... lest i forget. HaHaHa!


You can either fry them up immediately, or leave it in the refrigerator. Depends on when you wanna have it. You can do this in the morning, but fry them up as appetizers at dinner ;) But if you do refrigerate, i'd say, keep it in a tupperware, sealed, just so it maintains its' freshness?
So anyway, when you're ready to fry... you've got to have your oil really hot this time round.


Arrange them carefully & nicely in the bowl of hot oil above medium fire. This will be easy for you later when you wanna roll the springrolls to its side without splashing hot oil on yourself.


Brownish-Gold & Crsipy? Good to go :)

Best eaten hot with my mum's homemade sauce - coming up in the next entry!