Steamed nasi dagang

I can't believe my eyes either. I cooked nasi dagang without feeling tired and the taste it delicious (according to self. bahaha xp)

I'm no expert for this. But, I would like to share with you how to cook nasi dagang. I put it here in case any of you pakar in nasi dagang, came across this entry, please share with me some tips or better correct me if I did wrong.

I didn't get proper lesson for nasi dagang. My mother in law is an expert. But, I haven't got the opportunity to learn closely of the process. I just knew the theory from what she told me. When I pack the rice to bring to Japan, she doesn't just pack me the rice, she always spill the way of cooking it to perfection. Unfortunately, whenever I want to cook it, I always forgot. Which step is the first? What I remember strongly was I have to soak the beras first! So, while soaking, I browse through the internet hoping for step-by-step how to cook nasi dagang using a steamer. I looked for ones that resembles my mother in law's recipe. But there are none. So, I settled with my logic.

Ingredients

2 cups of nasi dagang rice 

1 and a half cup of santan cair

half cup santan concentrate

5 pieces small red onions (dimayang-slice to thin perfection)*There's none in Japan, I settled with a quarter of big onion*

4cm of ginger (diracik halus-slice to thin perfection)

a small spoon of fenugreek beads (halba)

Direction

1) Rinse the rice 

2) Soak rice in water for overnight (at least 4 hour)

3) Discard water

4) Steam rice for 45 minutes (until the rice soften)

5) Meanwhile, soak the fenugreek beads in water.

6) Pour santan cair (until the same level of the rice)

7) Steam rice in santan (30minutes)

8) Take out the rice and mix rice with thinly-sliced onions, garlic, santan concentrate and funegreek beads. Mix well and make sure the rice is not too dampen with santan. Add a bit salt and sugar to taste.

9) Steam the rice for 10 minutes.

Siap!

While you cook the rice, you can prepare the gulai and acar. I find cooking nasi dagang is very relaxing. No rush whatsoever. But provided only if you cook it for a few people! kalau masak untuk open house tu..sigh...haha.

Ok, if you have anything to add, please drop a comment or two!

See you later!

Salmon roll for beginner

There are two reasons why finally I made the attempt to try cook Japanese food:

1) It is the easiest (in terms of handling) for picnic purposes. Looks like we are going to picnic more often now, it gives me enough reason to finally try.

2) I decided (for us both) to start a healthy lifestyle. I'm not a good game changer. Therefore, I always take changes very slowly. I figure, let's start change what I cook slowly first! You and me know, what is the healthiest diet on the planet? That is of course, the Japanese cuisine. So, I figure, while I'm here, I need to take this opportunity. I don't want to listen to myself brags of regrets many years later.

Move on, I decided to start with Japanese food I love and I think it is easy to make. Let's learn how to make salmon roll, shall we?

What you need: 

1) Slices of salmon. 

2) Slices of avocado.

3) Slices of cucumber.

4) Seaweed.

5) Rice.

*Preparation of the rice: Mix Japanese rice with rice vinegar, salt and sugar. The smell will make you salivating!

6) Bamboo mat. (I wrap it with saran wrap)

Steps:

1) Wet you hand.

2) Lay seaweed paper on the bamboo mat and spread the rice on top of it. I don't like my roll too dense with rice. So, I made sure the rice spread out thinly. I like my roll to be soft and fluffy.

3) Arrange the salmon, cucumber and avocado slice at one end of the rice.

4) Roll the bamboo mat slowly while giving a soft pressure on it. Just roll the bamboo mat, it will come out like this! I also had no idea how it become like this. But I made it. I mean the bamboo mat did it! ahaha xp. I watched you tube and I just couldn't get how, until I tried it myself. ehehe. So, you should. Get the feeling, then you understand what I mean :D The bamboo mat did the magic here actually :D

5) Lay saran wrap on the roll, and cut to the size of your preference. I like bite-sized. So, I cut it to eight parts. 

What's nice about being able to make your own roll is that, I can put as much filling I want. Usually, the ready-made one would have very densed rice and very little salmon and avocado. By being able to make this myself, I can put more lauk in it! This is awesome! Of course this is the most delicious salmon role I have ever had, ever!

These are our packed-dinner last weekend. We went to the stadium to watch baseball :) Our current favorite past-time activity:) 

Going to my favorite weekly activity now. Watching baseball with packed lunch/dinner :) 

So, what is your favorite past time with your loved ones? 

Canned-tuna Laksa Johor

My first ever laksa Johor. I'm loving it :)

On one evening when I just came back from work, I feel so tired, but I still need to cook dinner. I look at husband..he really has problems of eating in small portion. Reminds me to bring him for leptin check later on. ahaha xp. Seriously, why men eat so much @_@ or is it only him?@_@ I requested a big fridge when we move because I dreamed of becoming a domestic goddess who can fill the kitchen with food everywhere. So far, my refrigerator only contains the shelf, and so does my dry food shelf, where I have prepared nice container to stock up biscuits, cookies, buns, etc. All empty. Looks like I married to a food processor or something. ahahaha xp. 

In regards to this 'problem', I feel obliged to cook something healthy every time. I try. One effort I try to put now is to make sure he gets variety of nutrition in one week. It is such a struggle still, given that when I am home, the energy left is just to cook.haha xp. Still working on it. 

So on that evening, all I can find in my kitchen was a stack of canned tuna which I carried with me from Hiroshima to Nagoya, now back to Hiroshima @_@ and a whole lot of pasta @_@. I feel the urge to use them right away. Then a bulb of idea popped out, I see Aim's face. 

She said, "now is the time for you to try my laksa Johor"! 

And I was like...why not?! Let`s do it!

Laksa Johor from canned tuna (courtesy of The Daily Muses)

Ingredients

A pack of spaghetti

6x80g of canned mackerel flakes

200ml of coconut cream/coconut milk

2 red onions**

3 cloves of garlic**

an inch of ginger**

3 pcs of lemongrass**

3 tbsp of blended chili**

1/2 cup of dried shrimp**

3 tbsp of curry powder (for fish)

Vietnamese mint (daun kesum)- I don't have this one. 

Directions:

1. Boil a packet of spaghetti.

2. Blend all the ingredients marked "**".

3. Heat oil and saute the blended ingredients.

*Put in vietnamese mint if you have some

4. Mix curry powder with water a bit and pour it in the pan. 

5. Keep on stirring until the sambal cooked thoroughly. (I cooked until 'naik minyak')

6. Add in fish flakes and pour coconut cream into the pan.

7. Season with salt accordingly.

8. Let boil.

9. Serve your laksa with sliced onion, taugeh, lettuce, cucmber, sambal belacan and etc. 

So simple right? But believe me, it turned out so sedap and fulfilling. My husband is not a fan of laksa but he likes this one and you guessed it right..I had problems stopping him that night T_T

Well, I guess the 'How to make Malaysian dishes from canned-tuna' series end here. For now. hahaha xp

Canned-tuna keropok lekor

Yours truly is not a fan of keropok lekor. If in KL, I had always prefer pisang goreng stall every single time. But le husband loves keropok lekor though. Maybe because of his darah pantai timur or he just loves any fried food. Anyway, I had once tried making keropok lekor from the scratch. From cleaning the fish and so on. I failed that. The keropok turns out so hard like seriously can make hole when you throw it to the wall. And very salty too..Yea, cause the recipe I followed wasn't giving me proper measurement, thus I can't know how it looks like or feels like at every stage. This isn't helping when I never see uncooked keropok lekor.

Moving on, one day in the year in which I was so busy that testing a recipe is not an option, one of my favorite blogger The Daily Muses posted on her blog on how to make keropok lekor from canned-tuna. I always believe in her recipe. I immediately saved it on my iPad in a "must keep forever" folder. hahaha. Only recently I get to try making them and mashaAllah it was so easy and I love how soft the keropok lekor turned out. My keropok lekor turns out like the losong one and the non-losong one (I don't know its name) mixed! Isn't it great? I love losong for its softness to the teeth and doesn't fill my tummy much. But doesn't like how it is easily melt in the puddle of sauce. Meanwhile, the non-losong one is just to me, too hard to the teeth. ahaha xp. 

Another thing is, it is from the canned-tuna??How can I not try that??Because I just hate the process that you need to extract the fish flesh, yadda2..omg..traditional keropok lekor making is so tedious. Tapi sedap kan..haruslah tabah. 

Canned-tuna keropok lekor made in Japan :D

Here is the recipe (taken from The Daily Muses) and altered according the things you can find in Japan:

6 x 80g tuna flakes in oil or water (it is okay because you will drain the liquid later)

Just a bit of cold water (since your tuna already in flakes)

1.5 cups of tapioca flour (I only know this flour exist in Japan, as for sago, can anybody tell me what it is called?sighhh..)

1.25 cups of plain flour (just standby a bowl more for shaping purposes)

salt to taste 

Directions:

1) Drain the tuna flakes.

2) Mash the tuna flakes a bit more by adding the cold water. No need to flood the fish. Just enough to make the flakes blend well.

3) Add in the flour and salt and mix them together.

4) Boil a pot of water.

5) Roll the dough to the shape you desired. lol xp It would be really sticky and fragile. So, what I did was I roll them on a puddle of plain floor, and immediately dump them into the boiling water.

6) Dump them into the boiling water. Let boil.

7) Recover those who already floated.

8) Store in the freezer or can immediately fry them.

Now everybody can make keropok lekor ^_^

Selamat mencuba :D

Home made rusk

Do you have left overs loaf at home? 

Why don't you turn it into a rusk. 

Here's how ^_^

1) Pre-heat your oven at 200 degree celcius.

2) Spread butter and sugar on top.

Spread lots of butter and sprinkle some sugar (according to the sweetness level you desired) on it.

 3) Arrange bite-sized loaf on baking pan and baked for 20 minutes or until the top turned golden.

Cut the loaf to a bite size or just leave it like that. How ever you would prefer. I love the bite size:) Susun on a baking pan.

 4) Let it cool at room temperature.

When it first came out of the oven, expect rusk to be a little bit soft. When it is cool, it will become hard and officially turned to rusk ^_^

My kind of snack:) A bottle of rusk to accompany me watching baseball on TV tonight:)

Well, here are some tips I would like to share with you to get a better rusk. I write this according to my experience of making rusk for years!

1) Use butter, not margarine. Of course if you dislike the strong taste of milk, then you should use margarine.

2) Use thinner bread/loaf. I usually make rusk out of leftover loaf, so mine usually aren't perfect because most of the loaf here are thick.

3) The best kind of bread to make rusk in my opinion is baguette. The bread is already dry, so it will come out so crispy and not that tanned-looking (which I would prefer).

Feel free to add more, dear experience rusk-makers!

Mari Uji Diri

Ujian ini didedikasikan khususnya buat tetamu blog ini yang tidak menetap di Malaysia ketika ini.

Korang tengok jela gamba kat bawah ni..

Mane nak dapat cempedak kat sini T______T

Purposely letak gamba segabak mungkin sebab dah namenye menguji diri >.< 

Gamba I took masa balik raya haritu..
Susah sangat nak jumpa cempedak..
Alhamdulillah..finall we found it and we got the nicely ripe cempedak:)
Dengan gorengan oleh my mother ini, memang 5 star!haha..

Dah lama this picture I save it in draft...But I don't dare to compose at the same time has to stare at the picture..so tempting..
Now, my stomach growling, my mulut..salivating :/

Sedapnya cempedak goreng!!>.<

What to do when your husband said he wants to take a nap?

Last Saturday there was Toyohashi taikai held in..Toyohashi la..haha..

Likewise my husband mesti akan main punya (konon2 beliau adalah ayam tambatan T_T")

His wife???oh no panas sangat..so, I was with my payung the whole time..tepi padang makan n borak2..bile beliau main pun saya kurang notis T_T"

I'll post about the taikai later..

When we return home, he was exhausted and took a nap..he said only 10 minutes (but I was aware he was talking about sifir 3 T_T")

I was in boredom for the whole evening..and continue feeling bored..

What I did??let's do kitchen jikken ^_^ (kitchen experiment).

Hubby said he wanted to nap for 10 minutes. SO, what can we do to fill that '10 minutes'...alone??o_O (You know...boy's '10 minutes' nap..so '10 minutes':/)

Jawapannya--> Mari buat Kuih bakar serba kekurangan 

Anyways, I don't have the real recipe..But I remember someone told me the basic ingredients:

i-1 cwn tepung gandum

ii-1 cwn gula

iii-1 cwn air pandan

iv-1 cwn susu cair sejat (sobab eh den maleh nk bancuh santan:P)

v-3 biji telur yang kecil (kalau besar, pandai2 la kecikkan:P)

vi-1/2 tea spoon baking powder (ni actually sendiri hentam je rase nk letak :D)

vii-sedikit kale hijau (den takdo)

viii-bijan (pon den xdo)

Method: 1 je step..masukkan semua skali and blend!-->bake, 180 degree,40minutes.

Kuih ini sepatutnya bernama kuih bakar. Kalau di Malaysia berbentuk bunga kemboja (kan??) and warna hijau..Tp kek sini manolah den nk cokau kalo hijau T_T" lopeh tu acu kembojanya T_T" (wani ni  kalo ade mende alah tesebot pon mcm nk buat :P)

So, here's what you can do in that 10 minutes:

i. Kuih bakar serba kekurangan-45 minutes

ii. Tunggu kuih sejuk-10 minutes (tp haritu sejuk gile...so, 20 minutes)

*att:There's no miscalculation here..

So, jgn sia2kan mase 10 minit itu...buatla sesuatu utk mengisi 10 minit itu walaupun ianya adalah 'singkat'.
Kadangkala, nap mereke itu membolehkan anda semua basuh kete, laundry, tido semalaman mahupun updet blog secare pukal:)
Selamat mengisi masa nap hubby anda ^_^

Bread pudding for lazy bums=p

I have promised my friend to post on bread pudding recipe..

It has been a veryyyyyyyyyy long time since I last made one. Like 2 years ago kot=/

Ok..without further ado..

The ingredients..

1) a cup of sugar.

2) 4 eggs

3) 4 spoons of melted butter

4) 600ml evaporated milk or any kind of milk

5) a pinch of salt, drop of vanilla essence

6) loaf or any kind of bread you might preferred

7) banana or any fruits you like

8) raisins or any sprinkles of your likings

9) A blender

Procedure:

1- Blend together no items no. 1 to 5

2- Arrange the breads in a baking pan. Don't forget your fruits *see picture below*

Arrange the bread and fruits and make sure there are very little empty holes between them=)

*I usually opt for banana..other fruits give great taste could be peaches or pineapple*

3- Pour the blended items into the baking pan.

Ok, here's the key; when you pour it, give some time for the bread to absorb it..

facilitate absorption by pressing breads with a fork.

Keep pressing and add the blended items little by little..this process will take some times.

*This is very important step..do it well to ensure the 'puddingness' of your bread later on =p*

4- Sprinkle some raisins on top..

5- Bake: 180 degree, 45 minutes.

Freshly baked from the oven=)

*Once it cooked, let it cool in room temp. for a few minutes before you cut it. Don't keep it in the oven..nnt die penyek=p*

Ok, cut it in pieces you desired=)

*tips: Rotan je tgn sape yang cungkil bread pudding cantik anda tadi ngan garpu- mase anda tgh mandi=|*

Gomennasai..it's so obvious I composed this post in a hurry T_T..

Jya matta ne..Puan Wani

Hubby and cooking

Who's husband is very good in cooking??

Oh, no need to be very good..at least good..or..fine=)

My darling baby sweetheart yg jauh di mate tu...I nk puji sikit..he CAN cook=)

Of course..he has been living far from his mother since he was 19 if I not mistaken. He's been living overseas ever since and usually people like this will be a good cook=)

I assumed my husband was..=)

I think he's born to be an engineer..

The first dish he cooked for me was nasi goreng..

Why I said he's very talented??cz I swear the nasi goreng tasted exactly like tayar after emergency break!!

Yes, my husband is engineer buat kerete hape tah (I have no idea about his work =|)

See..how can I not love him more!!=|tell me who else could cook like that??=|

He's also an inventor=) So talented!!He must have a good gene. Thank God I found you dear sayangku intan payung gunung meletop...

Second and last time ever he cooked for me was..masak lemak cili padi ayam..

I cannot explain how 'unique' the taste was!!The chicken in the dish not at all tasted like chicken!!Tell me where can you find a good inventor like the one I married=|

I cannot accept anymore love like this..I can't stand too much love..

So, WE (I) decided to just let me do the cooking even though I never cook before.

Lagipun, he must be tired of cooking his own meals for yearsss right??Why don't I start cooking for US (my survival)..

Since the 'masak lemak cili api ayam' tragedy..I insisted to fill up the fridge with edible, NORMAL dish during my missing.

I was back home once every 3 weeks (most of the time..)

So, I cooked the stock to be eaten for the whole 3 week.

Gosh..of course it involves a few kilos of meats and chicken..

Here's the latest cooking I keep in the fridge for him..

However, the bihun habes after I left for a day T-T

Since the wedding, I tried so hard to not end up eating food cooked by him..

No, not because of 'that'..it's a way I show my love (u wished!)

Whateva bebeh..I love you still..and you know how 'good' you are in cooking T_T

Puan Wani

Masakan survivor yg br sampai rumah dr trip=p

Salam lovelings..

OMG...I had promised myself to start investigating the way of cloning peptides for disease bla2...

but it's cuti, so my system n my brain also got shut down T_T..

Therefore, another post for today.

However, let me alert you guys that this post is really irrelevant=p

Cooking sambal sardin my way=p

When I arrived home from Toyohashi, I don't have anything in the fridge. And I arrived home at 9 coz apparently I was so busy on the Monday T_T OMG..

So, I just have sardine in can and..potatoes ..i mean aging potatoes T_T

Hmm..so, I guess, I can cook something out of them.

So, sambal sardin it was!

I guess all of you had already know how to cook this. This was my first time T_T..

I'll show you how I did it using what I got in the fridge=p

Mind correcting me, ok?!

It's just sardine. So, I was reluctant to post it at first. However, on the way, I was thinking, why not?

I had already fried the potatoes. In the pan tu you can see I was cooking the chillies (+red onion+ garlic blended together with the chillies).

Pour in air asam jawa (my mom usually used asam keping, but I don't have it here T_T) and mix with the already well-cooked chillies.

Pour in the sardines and cook them together with the chillies. Put some salt.

The other way, you can also fry the fish first. In my case, I was so tired to do so T_T
Observe the oil. When the oil started to merge on the surface, pour in the fried potatoes and slices of onios. Mix them well.

This was my first sambal sardine=)

For my beginner friend, I hope this could help in varying your skills in cooking can food=p

QueenForADay

Sambal kicap toriniku=)

Salam ladies..

I m so excited cz my house just got connected to the world..er...i mean internet;p

if u ask me, how does it feel to live about a month without internet connection at home??the answer is yes..u might literally..die!;p

Because I am sooo sooo excited coming out of d cave, I am in a very good mood to update this blog with another recipe n surprise2..the photos pon i got them labelled;p ahahhaa

This post is not related to wedding prep??

who said that??hmm..for b2b like me..who never actually cook, this post might come in handy;p

Ok, today, let's learn how to cook ayam sambal kicap (ayam=toriniku). oh, of course this is a survivor version T_T..huhu..

This dish is very simple and also one of dish that's good for beginner cook like me;)

What u need are: fried chicken-haf cook, garlics, onions, cili kering, daun limau purut, serai n ginger (just a little)

Blend:cili kering+onion+garlic+ginger

Tumiskan item yg di blend td. Oh, I use periuk cz dorang merecik2 T_T

Put in serai when minyak nk naik..actually u can put it awal2 td;p ahahah

Then, masukkan kicap (as much as u like..depends ont he taste n also the colour that u like), sugar n garam. I couldn't give u exact measurement cz I maen curah je sume T_T

Then, masukkan ayam goreng, slices of onions n daun limau purut. Stir until minyak nye naik..

Ok, siap sudah!Oh, i like it to be darker..

I had never imagined that I can actually cook...for other person to eat;p n now, i do..with confidence=) hihi..all u need is the desire to try;)

Happy trying!

QueenForADay

Masak lemak cili padi-Survivor way;p

Salam everybody..

I don't know...I didn't cry last night n yet my eyes are still dry=( dry eyes really gives me the urge to sleep=( if only I don't have lecture so late T_T

Today, I would like to share with all of you, another dish yg sgt common n senang.hehe..

Lauk mls mesti yg melibatkan santan2 ni cz senang;p

Ever since I live alone, I have never feel so rajin to msk. Hm..love really is powerful kan?It can make u do things that u've never did. In my case, cooking;p

Last weekend, I cook masak lemak cili padi chicken (tori-niku or cikin).

The problem is..there's a lot of things that's not available.

However, what do I expect pon..since I live in a foreign country=( If nk tggu brg cukup mmg mkn luar jela hari2=(

But, msk lemak cili padi ni mmg senang n also there's not much things that U need to have available;)

In fact, I decided to cook this dish becoz, d brg2 yg I have available only allow me to cook this lauk T_T huhu..

These are what U need: Coconut milk, cili padi (depends on how pedas U wants it to b), serai, chicken n potatoes.
Since I don't have lesung batu..sigh..

Like it or not, u have to blend ur cili with some water or ur santan pon ok. Put a lil kunyit (I guess my mom will b mad seeing this. Cz she never cook msk lemak cili padi gune serbuk kunyiT_T...tp kt sini mane nk dpt kunyetttt...)

Next, cook your ciken with the blended chillies td together with kunyit.

Cook briefly until air ayam tu kering sket..

Pour in the santan and put in potatoes..

How much santan?That's subjective. However, don't put too little as this will make ur lauk later 'batat' hihi.

Let it boils..until the potatoes empuk..and don't forget to put the salt;) for starter, put in the salt lil by lil and taste it as many times as u like until u get the right taste!

Tara...msk lemak cili padi-survivor way;p

For beginner cook, I recommend you to also try this dish. This dish is a good way to learn cooking santan-based lauk=)

Happy trying!

QueenForADay

Tom Yam my way

Salam dearies...

This time around, I would like to share with you guys tomyam...my way;p

ngahahha...I know2..tom yam is soooo easy to cook.

You can skip reading this post if you find it boring eh..hehe..

For the b2b yg mcm I dulu..got no recipe at all in the head, start with tomyam k. It's so easy like flicking your fingers;)

These are what you need. Actuall you can put almost any veges in. Since I got limited space to keep things and also, the portion is for my lil tummy, carrot n mushroom is more than enuf;)

In my tomyam, I used chicken. Oh..it's been a long time since I had u..chicken T_T..

First...of course panaskn minyak;p ( I was so rajin to snap all the steps;p)

Fry the garlic slices until naik bau...then pour in the chicken..cook the chicken with the garlic already.

Wait till the chicken is half cooked, pour in water (as much as u like), put in the perisa tomyam (the word hasn't crossed my mind T_T), carrot and serai..

Prepare your rice, or bihun or whatever..haha..I had yellow noodles;)

When it boils, put in the chillies, mushrooms, slices of onions (big slices) and daun limau

Siap sudah!!!This is the dish (ryori in nihongo) that my mom will cook whenever she malas;p

Ittadakimasu!!(huhuk...I don't have coaster T_T)

Happy trying ladies!!!

Will do update another ryori later...;)

The ex-B2b who's once only know how to eat and critic foods;p

QueenForAday