Paratha and Dhal

Today is 24th May. A month ago on 24th April, I was in my 6th day in the hospital. The final day where I was released. And it takes that long, a full month for me to finally feel relieved that the side effect from the thing that infected me [until today they fail to name the thing that infected me - no conclusive diagnosis]. Whatever it is, it was such a wake-up call. I have never been that sick before, have never been hospitalized, and have never been febrile that long [almost two weeks].

 

Nevertheless, after what happened to me, I feel a little reluctance to eat outside. I don't feel safe anymore to eat at stalls or restaurants, unless they are graded with "A" in terms of cleanliness [A Malaysian system to grade restaurants]. And as most fast-food restaurants are graded with "A", that's my only choice. By fast food I do not mean McDonald or KFC. I'm trying to eat healthy, so I opt for Sushi King all the time.

I like mamak food. Mamak Restaurants by definition in Malaysia is:

1. 24-hour restaurants

2. sell Indian cuisines - paratha, chapatti, fish head curry, etc

3. everyone in Malaysia [well, almost] loves it as it has that certain ambience to hang out there as long as you want with food you can afford.

So what am I trying to say here? I'm saying, now that I feel a little reluctant to eat outside, I try to cook things that I eat at mamak stall. Like this Dhal below. I can't remember why I want to eat it, but I Googled for the recipe and this was what I had for dinner today:

Ingredients:

1 cup of lentils

2-3 cups of water [depending on your preference of the broth thickness]

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium potato [diced]

1 medium brinjal [diced]

1 medium carrot [diced]

Few cloves of star anise, cloves, cinnamon sticks

3 cloves of red onions [thinly sliced]

2 cloves of garlic [thinly sliced]

Few curry leaves

1tsp mustard seed

1 tbsp oil

Salt and sugar to taste

Steps:

1. Boil lentils in 3 cups of water until it is soft.

2. Add turmeric powder. Stir and add potatoes and carrot.

3 Boil until carrot and potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

4. Add brinjal and cook for another 5 minutes.

5. In a pan, sautee the onions, garlic, star anise, cloves and cinnamon sticks, mustard seed and curry leaves for a few minutes, then add into the other ingredients.

6. Add salt and sugar to taste.

7. Remember to always stir the mixture because lentils burns easily.

Enjoy!

p/s: Could not find Atta flour to make my own paratha, so those are store-bought ones. :P

Apple Cake

These last few weeks have been a chaos of scorching hot and wet windy afternoons. There are days where I wish the rain would fall and cool the earth, but when it pours together with the deafening thunder, boy don't we miss the sun! 

It is my 5th month in a new place, new tasks, new house, meeting new people, surrounded by new acquaintances. I moved here to do my MA, and I have to say, I've enjoyed every moment of it before the two-year break from work ends. Though I enjoy almost everything, the weather is somewhat puzzling, and is is very different compared to my hometown, Terengganu. In Terengganu, we know when it is going to rain [between July to January] and when it is going to be scorching hot. 

I can't wait for it to cool, hence the crumbly appearance. Didn't regret it though, 
hot cake+cold cream=heaven

Ok. Enough with the story. Yesterday was a wet afternoon, and after I saw this recipe here, I remember having apples in the fridge and decided to bake it. It was a challenge though, as I have never made a cake with such a large amount of fruit in it. And it's healthy too! The original recipe calls for 3/4 cups of sugar, but I think if your apples are sweet, 1/2 cup is enough. You will need:

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs [I only have one egg in the fridge at that time, it turned out well so I guess it's your choice]

125 gm [1/2 stick] butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups apple, peeled, cored and diced

Steps:

1. Beat egg with electric mixer at speed 1 for 2 minutes or until creamy. 

2. Add sugar and vanilla essence, beat again until it turns out pale yellow.

3. Add butter, whisk again until everything is incorporated. 

4. Add flour little by little. Using wooden/rubber spatula, fold in the apples. 

5. The batter will be thick a little but don't worry it will rise.

6. Grease a 8 inch/7 inch cake pan*. Pour the mix and even it out using spatula.

7. Bake at 150 degrees Celcius, for 30 minutes, or your preferred baking method. 

*When I used the 8-inch pan, the cake is flat. After this I'm going to try the 7 inch and see whether it is better.

Serve with cold whipped cream. 

Meanwhile, enjoy!!!

Update: I tried using the 7-inch pan and the result is awesome! The cake looks better and as I have some patience this time, I let it cool [like, 10 minutes] before attacking it. 

Finally!!! Look at how the fruits are stacked onto each other!!!

Jamie Oliver's Chocolate Cake

Salam..apa khabar semua? cik jah cik senah tengah buat apa tu???? (nada chef wannnnn). dua tiga hari lepas, bukak je tv nampak abang jamie ku tersayang baru nak buat kek coklat.disebabkan atas riba ada laptop, tak  sempat capai pen dan kertas, terus taip dalam notepad. senang gituu..kek ni dah penah buat dua kali minggu nih (disebabkan permintaan ramai..chewahh...bukan jual pung!), so first time guna coklat cap meriah.coklat masakan biasa2. malam tadi buat pakai chocolate chip hershey.

mesti tertanya-tanya kan, yang mana satu lagi best? jawapannya ialah coklat masakan meriah yang harganya separuh dari hershey.tak tahu naper..probably chocolate chip tu lama duduk dalam peti, bila masak tak cair2..maksud aku, campur dengan adunan kek, bakar sekali. masa buat chocolate sauce pun kurang menjadi.pakai coklat masakan meriah, orait jer..kek tu macam2 kaler coklat jadinye. ada coklat gelap, ada coklat terang.

hokeyyy..ini resipinya...

[English version]

Hello there! How have you guys been doing? Few days ago, I turned the channel TLC on and saw Jamie Oliver preparing to bake a chocolate cake. Since I didn't have a pen and paper in my hand, I typed the recipe in my laptop, as fast as I can cause uh...we all know how Jamie talks! I did this cake twice before posting [cause everyone asks for a second helping!]. The first time, I used Meriah baking chocolate. Just a simple, cheap option of chocolate in the market and the second time, I used Hershey's chocolate chips.

One must wonder, which one works better? Surprisingly, the cheap chocolate which price is half of that Hershey's. Probably because I left the chocolate chip in the fridge for weeks, or maybe because the cooking chocolate IS cooking chocolate, therefore it did what it had to do. The Meriah chocolate makes the cake turned into several palettes of chocolates - dark, medium, light. It was awesome!

Here's the recipe!

CAKE

200gm butter

200gm sugar

200gm self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

3 eggs

hot water

3 tbsp cocoa

100gm chocolate (bang on your kitchen counter until it becomes bits of chunky chocolate. That's Jamie and you know it)

1/2 cup almond nibs

STEPS

• beat butter and sugar until the batter colour turns very light yellow.
• add eggs one by one while beating
• add flour
• in a separate cup, add some hot water to the cocoa powder, until it becomes a paste
• mix cocoa paste with batter
• fold in chocolate and almond (almond is optional, chocolate is a must!)
• bake in the oven, 190 degrees , 18-20 mins (i bake it at 150 degrees, 30 mins, my regular baking duration)

chocolate sauce:

using the double boiler method, add ingredients below and stir until it becomes..well...sauce!

100gm chocolate

100gm butter

4tbsp milk

Pour chocolate sauce on the cake while its hot. Best eaten warm, with a glass of milk. Enjoy!!!

Tom Yum Fried Rice with Fish Fry and Broccoli

It was the second raya day, and I can't remember the reason why there were only my brother and I at home during the second day. Anyhow, my brother's quite a cook, so since it was lunch hour already, he cooked me nasi goreng tom yum (He used to work at a hotel before so his cooking skill is quite good).

We were all ready to eat, and suddenly we heard "Assalamualaikum!". Damn...the spoon was so close to my mouth but then since it's hari raya it's a bad thing to let your guests wait for you. My brother went back to his bedroom with an empty stomache and I greeted the guests. Lucky they left as soon as I told them my mum's not home. So off we went to continue eating when ONCE AGAIN THERE WERE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR followed by "Assalamualaikum!".

My brother gave up and continued to sleep! hahahaha...meanwhile, I had to entertain those guests, making drinks and serving food...it was not until a few hours after that that we finally got to eat the nasi goreng yom yum. Luckily it still tastes good.

Enough with the story. Here's the recipe. Well, I wouldn't call it so much as a recipe, but it's a good choice when you don't know which kind of nasi goreng you wanna cook.

Ingredients:

Leftover rice about 2 cups

2 Maggi tom yum cubes

2 pieces of chicken keel, diced

1 carrot, diced

A few long beans

(Just put in whatever vegetables you like)

A few kaffir lime leaves

1 tsp salt

1 egg

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves red onion

3 cloves garlic

Steps:

Heat the pan. Pour oil, saute onion and garlic. After 2 minutes, add chicken keel. Cook for 5 minutes. Add rice, stir. Add the cubes, you gotta crush the cubes first. Add the vegetables and kaffir lime leaves. Lastly, add egg and salt to taste.

For the broccoli:

Heat two cups of water. When the water boils, put 1 cup of broccoli, and wait for 2 minutes. Turn the stove off, and quickly transfer the broccoli into a bowl of water and ice cubes. Let the broccoli stay in the bowl for 30 seconds, then take them out. You will have the greenest, boiled yet crunchy broccoli ever!

For fish fry:

1 egg, beaten
1 slice of dory fish, cut into two
1 cup of seasoning flour for chicken (I use Adabi)
Enough oil for frying

Steps:

Pat dry the fish. Dip the fish into the egg, then the seasoning, then egg and seasoning again. Deep fry until golden brown in medium fire.

Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are two ways to Chocolate Chip Cookies...crispy or chewy. What if I were to tell you that you can have it both in the same mixing bowl?

When I was writing this recipe, I thought to myself that chewy chocolate chip cookies are rare in Malaysia. Therefore, a few weeks back when I "accidentally" made a few small jars of chewy chocolate chip cookies, I fell in love with it! All these while I read about food bloggers out there discussing chewy cookies, and I can't join in the conversation as I don't know how chewy cookies taste like!

Today as I was making another batch of chewy chocolate chip cookies, I've learnt that with different temperature, cookies can be chewy or crispy. At first, I bake 1/2 the batch at 150 degree Celsius for 20 minutes, and I baked the other half at 175 for 15 minutes. The first 1/2 turns out as chewy as I want it to be, and the second came out crispy! It's not that dry, but it's certainly crispier without the chewy part in the middle.

I like it when I can produce different kind of cookies or muffin from the same batter. I made some Orange Banana Muffins and Lemon Blueberry Muffin from the same mixing bowl too last Wednesday. I'll post the recipe later.

 

Here's the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies [for half a mix]. You can double it for more cookies. This one makes about 80 small sized cookies:

1/2 stick (125gm) butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup self-raised flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup almond bits

2 tsp cocoa powder [I hate pale looking cookies so I added this to make it looks more "chocolatey"]

Steps:

1. Cream the butter, white sugar and brown sugar for about 5-7 minutes using electric mixer at speed "1".

2. Add egg, beat for one minute and add vanilla essence. Beat for about one minute more.

3. Add the flour little by little and mix evenly using wooden spatula.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and almond bits.

5. Spoon about 1 small teaspoon each on baking tray and bake according to your preference of cookies: 175 Celsius/15 mins for crispy and 150 Celsius/20mins for chewy version.

Enjoy!~~

Who Cooks a Storm?

I do!

This is just a collection of the dishes I cook in what little kitchen I have. Some are my own recipes, usually from watching my mother cooks, and most of the time, the recipes that I use are my own version of what I found in magazines or websites or food blogs.

Have fun cooking!