Weekend round up : Kerabu Daun Selom

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh..

I have tonnes of things to settle over the weekend (over every weekend actually). But I keep on postponing and the list keeps piling up. The only thing that I am more than willing to do during weekend is cooking and trying out new recipe, and invite people over for lunch/dinner.

The other week, I had Annie and Geoffrey, Pak Anton and WK for dinner on Saturday and just yesterday I had Chiew and Theresa, with Lirang and her husband, Ignace for lunch. I've had successes with few recipes :) but too bad I was rushing it most of the times that I did not managed to take proper pictures.

For last weekend, here are some that I tried.

Sedihnya gambar blur... :(

I have been collecting chicken carcass in the freezer, there must be like 4 of them. So how best to use them, except to make chicken stock ! The recipe is super easy, taken from one of the earliest JO's book. I ended up with 3 containers of chicken stock, and quite a considerable amount of boiled chicken flesh mix with vege. It should taste good when I made into sandwich filling or pie filling or something. For now all goes into the freezer. Mental note: Beli rosemary, it was required in the recipe. but I did not have it then, to lazy to go to the shop, so less one ingredient there. 

Off late, I have been seeing a lot of kitchen hacks posting, mostly on FB, one of those is this, so instead of throwing the top of the carrot away, I want to try growing it... we'll see how it goes, this is day-1. 

Vanilla Ice Cream with crushed ground nuts

I have come to be accustomed of having something sweet after main meal. Salahkan mat saleh dan orang-orang di sini..hehehe.. mesti nak ada dessert. When I had my open house last year, one of the guest brought me a 4L tub of vanilla ice cream, freaking 4L!! How am I supposed to finish that? I did not touched it last year, until I hosted the fun run the other day. I made Eplekake and served with vanilla ice cream :)

I still have half of the tub, and somehow it feels not right just having the ice cream as it is... Childhood memory kicks in, I blended coarsely some ground nuts. You would not believe the things that I stocked up in my pantry. I have almost everything..hahaha... Sprinkle the nuts on top of my ice cream and voila!! Sedapnya....

Tekak mengada pulak...lama tak makan masakan pedas kekdahnya, and my daun kunyit in the garden has slowly turned yellowish, so might as well I made something out of it. I was very lazy to take out other protein and thaw it, so the easiest is to make Masak Lomak Tolo. No cili api, only cili afrika yang pedas nak mamps!! I underestimated the hotness level, and hamek kau, super podeh!! Should know how to estimate next time :)

For dessert yesterday, I made banana cake, the batter is fine, but I wanted to lined the bottom of the cake with sliced banana. I was not sure how it would turned up, so I made a testing batch using this ramekin :) It does not turned out good. Then I thought of lining the top with slice banana, but seeing that the cake rise quite a fair bit, I scraped the idea. So in the end I just bake the whole cake without any sliced banana anywhere, and since I halved the sugar content, the cake was not sweet. To add a bit of sweetness, I served it with my vanilla ice cream..hahaha.. selagi tak habis, selagi tu la any kind of dessert, will be served with ice cream :P

Ginger torch flower or Bunga Kantan

This is not from my garden, I had some planted, but no flowers yet. This was taken from the activity center. Its growing everywhere here and most of the time it just died there. So when I saw some good ones at the activity center, I took some and have it frozen. I took some out just to take photo..hehehe.. and used one to make kerabu daun kesum.

Lauk semalam, Lirang and Ignace love the kerabu, and of course all of them loved the Sambal Terung Pipit. I can live with these two dish every day and not a single complaint :)

Sharing the recipe so that I won't forget.

Kerabu Daun Selom :

Ingredients:
3 red chillies (*)
2 tbsp dried shrimp (*)

Half of red onion (*)

Half cup of grated coconut

3 tbsp of kerisik (#)

Lime juice

Salt

Brown sugar

Daun selom (sliced coarsely) (~)

1 stalk ginger torch flower (bunga kantan) (sliced thinly)

1. Pound all the (*) together. Saute without oil, add a little bit of water, to make sure that chili is well cooked.
2. Add in the coconut and kerisik, stir well and use low heat.
3. Add in lime juice and salt to taste, its ok if the taste is a bit strong as this will be added to the chopped daun selom and ginger torch flower
4. The original kerisik would have a hint of sweetness to it, but the packed one that I bought was not sweet. I suspected they used the coconut that has already been extracted out the milk, that is why it was not sweet. So to balance the flavor, I added in some brown sugar.
5. Cook until it is dry. Let it cool and mix with the chopped daun selom and ginger torch flower. Ready to serve with white rice and all other dishes. 

(#) Kerisik is another coconut derivatives. Its easy to make, but a bit labour intensive, Take grated coconut and saute without oil on low heat. Stir continuously to avoid the coconut from getting burned. When all the coconut has turned brownish, pound (using mortar and pastel) until it becomes oily (shiny). Pounding it while its hot helped to extract the oil better. Use it as additive in various types of Malay dishes. Instead of pounding it, you can also use the dry blender, or food processor, but the result would be a bit different, I guess.

(~) Daun selom is mainly found in South East Asia, but its not a common vegetable. In Malaysia, those that are familiar with Malay dish will be used to it, but I know some (many non-malay Malaysian) that don't even have a clue about the leaf. The taste is bland by itself. We used it as ulam (ulam is any raw vege that you eat with pounded chili concoction - sambal belacan). 

In the north (Kedah) where I came from, we used daun selom as one of the condiments in Laksa Kedah. 

Initially I don't know what is the English name for daun selom, but thanks to Google here it is water dropwort. But I bet, the mat saleh also would not be able to recognize this leaf. I brought it all the way from KL and planted it here. As I said, I can eat it everyday, so I do need the constant supply :) 

After quite sometime not posting pictures, I realised, I am losing my photography skill. (Not that I am super talented in photography to begin with). So, new year resolution (yeah right!!) I need to get back on with my DSLR and take better pictures. Sedih doh tengok gambaq tak semenggah tu... huhuhu..

Till next time, wassalam...

Cerita Basi~~

Well, almost..hehehe..after being kept preserved in my laptop for more than a month now, here it is. My last working day before raya was 25th. So, just for fun, I organised an iftar session with the singles the day before. I made one 'new' dish, as none of the girls have tasted it before.

I did cook some, but the girls also brought more food to top up :)

The menu were:
from yours truly:

• Nasi putih
• Ayam Bakar
• Ikan Bakar
• Mix vege
• Sambal tumis kentang
• Cokodok smashing pumpkin
• Dates
• Hot tea

from bazaar:

• Ayam bakar (yes, she did not asked what I was cooking)
• Kuih-muih
• Murtabak
• Twister orange juice, air tebu, air kelapa

We also had extra dessert~ the next day was one of the girl's birthday and we decided to surprise her!! :D

It was a great catch up session, especially most of the girls works in various department. Normally we would do catch up during lunch (more like once a month) but in Ramadhan, iftar is the only time and I think by second week, we were all scratching our heads what food to buy next :P

Minus 1 is because the amoi is not single, her husband has been posted elsewhere, and she is single for the time being until they are reunited sometime later this year ;)

Baking 101 : Chocolate Soufflé

This is one of the things that I was determined to try for this year and I made it!! yeay!! :e

High rise soufflé :)

The recipe taken from here but I modified to how much I need, also the technical parts are taken from some other recipes that I have seen.

Here goes: I used measurement in RED

Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients (serves 6) (2)

• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (80 gm)
• 100g butter, chopped (40 gm)
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (1/4 cup)
• 5 eggs, at room temperature, separated (2 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour (¾ tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (3/4 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup caster sugar (2 tbsp)
• thickened cream and icing sugar mixture, to serve

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Grease 3 pieces of 2cm deep, 3.5cm (diameter) ramekin with butter on the side to the brim and sprinkle some castor sugar to the sides.
3. Combine chocolate and butter in a metal bowl, melt the mixture via double boiler method. Stir every minute with a metal spoon, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Stir in brown sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
4. Beat egg yolks with a fork to combine. Stir into chocolate mixture. Sift flour and cocoa together over chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until thick and glossy.
5. Add 1 tablespoon eggwhite to chocolate mixture. Mix well. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold in remaining eggwhite. Spoon mixture into prepared ramekin (at least ¾ full) . Bake for 15 minutes or until the batter has risen from the brim.
6. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with cream. (I did not... :D just dig in!!)

One might ask, what is the toughest part in making a soufflé? My answer would be, getting the ramekin!! I was searching high and low in KL but could not find any. I tried IKEA, the Curve (OU je tak sempat). Last week after Spanish class I drop by MV and tried Carrefour, nope, none that I can see. Then I tried Jusco, voila...there's the whole bunch of it :) And I settled for the small ones, 3.5 cm diameter ramekin. There is a smaller one but I guess any souffle made in that size would invites anger due to chocolate deficiency...  :r



So next challenge is getting the soft peak. I did not own any type of mixer apart from what Allah has given me (my two hands....  :O ) So I was beating my life away to get the egg whites to form the soft peak, and this is how it turns out.

Nampak tak the two peaks?

 Next, after gently (ohh..saya memang bersopan santun waktu tu) folding in the eggwhites to the chocolate sauce, what else, baking time :f I was pacing back and forth in front of the oven to see how much it has risen.


Naik lagi dan lagi....

Its finally done!! To be honest, I have never tasted soufflé before anywhere, so I would not know how to compare. I guess for chocolatey taste, yes, it was good because it was not sweet. But for the texture am not so sure, seemes like I overbake the soufflé. The next day I consulted my boss (yes, he's a pastry chef), he mentioned a good soufflé by mat salleh's definition should be runny and saucy on the inside...aahhh...now I know. So I guess next time, I should reduce the baking time to 13 minutes? ;)

Teaser : Soft Peak

Credit to Pakcik Google :P

Wholemeal Doughnut

I am so sorry for not updating this quite a while, nak amik award pon kena postpone kejap ye...
Just a quick one to cure my kempunan posting ;)

wholemeal doughnut

I have had bad experience with yeast before, tried to make bread, did not come out right. So next attempt is doughnut. I took the recipe from this blog. I portioned the ingredients to half (solo-molo kan...plus, this is only a trial, tak jadi membazir pulak...)

Alhamdulillah, it turns out OK, apart from the a bit over the top yeast taste. I have to reduce that next time around. The only thing is that with the recipe, I have to measure 10 gm of some of the ingredient, my weighing scale is 25gm minimum, so I have to calibrated the weight with my eyesight...hahaha...boleh gitu? ;)
Pardon the slightly burned look as I used canola oil (low smoke point), hence it heated up very quickly, but its not burnt anyway. Also the use of wholemeal flour just add to the darker shade.

But am still not very satisfied with the whole thing, well, practise make perfect rite? ;)

What the Box Had Taught Me

Its undeniably true that I am a hardcore, true die hard (any other word?) couch potato. I have devoted my time to the box since I was 4 y.o, waiting for cartoon show to start and never failed to stand up straight each time the channel starts with Negaraku.

And lately there has been too many shows that focuses on one of my interest, cooking :) !! There is Masterchef S1, Top Chefs S1-S4 and having a whole channel dedicated to food and cooking adds more to me spending time in front of the TV.

I have expanded my culinary knowledge across the normal Malay cuisine. In within one year, my list of “to try recipes” increases in two, maybe three fold. For a start, let me list down what I am planning to try this year, might not be that much, but at least it’s a start. 

1. Red velvet Cake – am confused by the chocolate cake description but comes in RED colour. I actually tried this one, but didn't turned out red, so have to find a new recipe
2. Chocolate soufflé – after watching Masterchefs S1 semi-final, I am tempted to try this intricate, most challenging and apparently hard to master desert. Is it really that hard? I guess we will soon find out, once I buy that ramekin (which I always call soufflé cup before) !!
3. Koeksister – this is after tasting it during my Waka-waka trip last June. Got the recipe, will get this one done soon!!
4. Bread making!! – I have few failed attempts, am still not giving up; will keep on trying until I get the perfect recipe.
5. Gnocchi – after so many seasons of Top Chefs, this one keeps appearing off and on, so the simple dumpling cum pasta must be good then?

Anymore stuffs that I should try?

p/s: I know what is sous-vide now, and how to pronounce it as well ;) and I have learnt the art of poaching eggs, just never put it into practise just yet.

p/p/s : foie gras sound tempting, but I have tasted paté before, not really my pallet (hahaha...cakap pon dah macam judges on Top Chef..)

Intermission

Tad too late, I hope not :) something for raya, pretty sure it is wiped clean by now..hehehehe...


Biskut Badam Rangup

 The recipe was taken from here. I skipped the brush off egg yolk, but the rest of it are the same. Verdict? Next year I'll make some more.. ;)

p/s: puasa 6 dah abis belum?..me in progress still..hehehe...

Merdeka Edition Meal

For this PH, I decided to have a feast of tradition (my family that is) . Did not took leave on Monday, so not worth my money to go back KL on 31st Aug. Already planned to cook for iftar and invite few friends over. So what did I cooked?
 Menu:
Nasi Kerabu ala Utara
Asam Pedas Keladi
Sambal Terung Belanda a.k.a Terung Pipit
Ikan Cencaru Goreng

That is the main ones, the rest are supplied by the guests. I only managed to snap few pics of the ingredient, by the time I finished cooking, it was already maghrib and I was too tired (could not be bothered actually) to snap anymore pictures..hahaha... But the highlight is of course Nasi Kerabu ala Utara. This is not at all the same as Nasi Kerabu that you normally get elsewhere. Only people in Kedah still eat this, though I saw one stall in Cheras sells this, but did not buy for I scared that it would not meet my expectation.

raw material...

So lets go to the recipi ;)

Nasi Kerabu ala Utara
Bahan-bahan:
1 mangkuk besar nasi putih
1 sudu makan halia + serai : ditumbuk halus
1 biji bawang besar : dihiris halus
1 sudu teh lada hitam : ditumbuk halus
1 sudu makan ikan kering (talang) : digoreng dan ditumbuk halus
2 sudu makan kerisik
Segenggam ulam-ulaman : diricik halus (this part I failed miserably..but anyhoo...)
Garam untuk perasa

Cara membuatnya:
Nasi putih dicerai-ceraikan(betul ke ni?) supaya tidak berketul dan dibiarkan sejuk. Dah sejuk,campurkan kesemua bahan-bahan di atas dan gaul rata. Hidangkan bersama asam pedas keladi...
Ulam that was used : daun cekur, daun pegaga, daun gajus...and another 1 more that I did not know what that is..


Asam Pedas Keladi
3 keladi (1 keladi ada ~3-4 batang) : siat dan buang lapisan luar, rendam dalam air
10 biji cii kering
1 sudu teh halba
1 sudu teh jintan manis
1 sudu teh lada hitam
4-5 keping asam
1-2 cm belacan
Segenggam daun kesum
Air secukupnya
Garam untuk perasa

Cara membuatnya
Rebus batang keladi dengan 2 keping asam hingga masak. Tos dan ketepikan. Rendam halba, lada hitam dan jintan manis ke dalam air panas, tumbuk sampai lumat. Kisar cili kering dan masak bersama belacan dan rempah tumbuk tadi. Apabila cili sudah masak, masukkan air, asam keping, daun kesum dan garam. Masak hingga mendidih, kemudian masukkan keladi. Siap untuk dihidang..
 p/s: SMS my mom to get the two recipies..hahaha..baru nak belajar, previously I only prepared the stuffs and she will do all the cooking and what not...

Resipi Sihat Raya Ini...

gambar recycle from last year punya..taun ni tak buat lagi..;)

Macam bunyi rancangan masak kat TV1 pulak kan? hehehe...Well actually I am finalising my cookies list for this year (ye..bunyi cam banyak..tapi nak buat 2 jenis je pon..hahaha...)

I had a hit recipe last year, so might as well I shared it here sempena bulan mulia ini..(cecewah...) Very easy recipe, I followed exactly but the cutting part may be a bit tricky as this is not a hard dough..

Eggless Pinwheel Cookies

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


Directions


1. Using a wooden spoon, cream the butter until it's smooth (see tip below.) Stir in the sugars and vanilla extract until they're evenly blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture one-third at a time, stirring after each addition, until the dough is evenly blended.
2. Set aside half of the cookie dough. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining dough and stir until it is fully incorporated.
3. Divide the chocolate dough in half. Place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap, pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick square, and then wrap it in the plastic. Repeat the process for the vanilla dough. Refrigerate the 4 squares until firm, about 1 to 2 hours.
4. Unwrap one piece of the chilled vanilla dough, leaving it on the plastic. Cover it with a second piece of plastic wrap, then roll it into a rectangle measuring about 9 by 7 inches. If the dough gets too soft and difficult to roll, slide it onto a baking sheet and refrigerate it until it's firm again, about 5 to 10 minutes. Unwrap a piece of the chocolate dough, cover it with another piece of plastic, and roll it into an 8- by 7-inch rectangle.
5. Remove the top piece of plastic wrap from both rolled doughs and invert the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough, lining up 3 sides and leaving about 1 inch of vanilla dough exposed on one side. Starting at the opposite side, lift the vanilla dough by the plastic wrap underneath it and snugly roll up both layers into a log, peeling away the plastic wrap as you go. Wrap the log in the plastic and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. Repeat the process with the 2 other pieces of dough.
6. Heat the oven to 350°F Line 2 shiny, heavy baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap one of the logs and slice it into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. (See tip below for a safe, kid-friendly way to slice dough.) Arrange the slices on the parchment about 1 inch apart and bake them for about 13 minutes. When done, they'll still be a little soft to the touch -- the cookies will have a better texture if you don't let their edges brown.
7. Leave the cookies on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Slice and bake the second log as the first.
8. A Kid-friendly Way to Slice Dough Slip a long piece of unflavored dental floss (about 20 inches) beneath the dough log. Pull the ends up and over the log, crossing them. Wrap the ends of the floss around your fingers and pull in opposite directions.

There you have it, selamat mencuba puan-puan (terutama yang anak mpatbelas..hehehe...)

What's Up Doc?

When I'm bored....I bake, when I feel like I need to do something...I bake, when I feel like tasting something different....I bake and definitely when I'm happy, guess what? I bake too ;)

My catalyst loading went well yesterday, and I decided to bake something as a reward to myself. I actually had this oven quite some time already, made few stuffs on it already, namely my almost famous Eggless Pinwheel cookies and what else, my favorite, carrot cake.

(rupa ada sikit buruk..coz yours truly masih in beginner stage, but the taste is superb!!)

So went back after Maghrib, head to PD town to buy the ingredients. Nothing fancy just the normal flour, sugar, carrot and stuffs. I was making carrot cake, and the only exquisite ingredient is walnut. PD town only have 2 main supermarket (cowboy town, what do you expect?) So I went to The Store, and suprise, suprise...they don't have walnut, not even almond, what more pistachio. The only nuts that they have is kacang panggang cap tangan, stocks for CNY ;p

So I tried the other store, Billion, and they have it, just that 50 gm cost RM 4.50!! I would need 200gm, easily RM18. So the next best thing is salted cashew..hahahaha...belasah la, janji bukan kacang panggang cap tangan.

I went back, make the batter and started baking.

I used my 'tried and works' recipe and instead of baking it in a pan, I bake it in small cups. To ease the eating process later ;) So I bake two tiers, set for 20 mins. The lower one took more than 20 mins to get done. The top one only took like 15 mins and it starts to crack.

I took it out, sample one of it, tasted weird though.... The carrot is not cooked and even the bottom is not browned yet.

The lower tier was done in ~30 mins. So I have to re-bake the top layer to make it cooked nicely. At first I thought because it was much smaller compared to pan, it would take shorter time to cook, but boy was I wrong. So lesson learnt, carrot cake is carrot cake, it will need the time to properly cook the carrot, irregardless the size.

And this morning this is the results. The biggest is for Ops, blue container for Lab people and smallest for Shafiq & Jignesh.

Makan @ my place

I moved to this new house early of the year and since then people from work has been bugging me to host a housewarming party. Having postponed it for quite some time, I think Raya is the best time to deliver. Since the landlord leaves most of kitchen utensils, my life gets more easier!!

So here are some pictures of last nite's food :


Kuah lodeh, nasi himpit and rendang in the making..

The serving...
Total spread
Kek Lapis from Miri..yummeh..

The people......
BY, me , NKOTB
Most of us