On Blending

I’ve always wanted to get a blender but never seem to found the one I liked. Well, I do have a food processor, but I wouldn’t want to mix the usage as most of my cooking tend to use strong herbs and ingredients. And a random field work last Friday around Shah Alam, found me a blender. A blender with a bloody good deal.

Supposedly working, we then happen to be in the compounds of the renowned home appliances warehouse sales, where it’s up to 80% off the usual retail price. Instantly a colleague of mine got herself hooked to the ‘cult’ (apple-lah) accessories and I was browsing around aimlessly. And little did I know, I am standing at this special ‘Happy Hour’ section.

Out of no where, a pallet of mixed home appliances were park right in front of me. I reached out for the blender, and there was this tornado of people pushing me left, right, centre and out of the radius. Apparently the ‘Happy Hour’ section is where random selections is being sold at a even cheaper price. Discounts plus more discounts.

I hugged my blender. Tightly. And I should have hugged that bloody deep fryer too. Or that LED TV. Or that Micro Hi-Fi. But seriously RM39 for a blender that is retailing for RM129.90, I am happy!

Since then, I have been blending up concoctions I could think of, and be merry with it. Banana + milk on Saturday, Banana + orange juice + evaporated milk on Sunday and I have been reading about Aguas frescas too.

Wikipedia: Aguas frescas (Spanish for "fresh (cold) waters") are a combination of either fruits, cereals, or seeds with sugar and water, blended to make a beverage.

 

Aguas Frescas: Termerry = (watermelon + strawberry)

So for Tuesday’s blend I have a combination of any preferred amount of: orange juice + watermelon + strawberries + ice

Method: Blend everything and served chilled.

Perfect for the hot weather.

Curry crab + prawn

And over a wedding dinner, an ex colleague whom I’ve not seen for months said, so you don’t update anymore? It’s straight forward statement and yeah, I was being lazy and I blame the recent hot weather and the spoilt air conditioner which only I got it fixed yesterday. It’s just sweltering hot recently and I couldn’t blog. (I am attempting tactical excuses here! LOL.)

And so, I was at this sales conference recently, and seated among the seniors during lunch time. Now to have meals with senior management, one must hold back, somehow eat lesser and laugh gracefully. But the good curry I had keep appearing in my mind during the second half of the full day conference. The hotel serve this good blue crab curry!

I love crabs and knowingly I would mess up my white shirt, I had to take a small piece of it. Freaking small piece. So on the drive back, I decided to make dinner and it’s going to be the crab curry I had earlier.

Curry crab + prawns

2 blue crabs

200gm prawns

2 medium sized eggplants

2 onions

Pounded paste of 2cm ginger + 3 cloves of garlic + 1cm turmeric + 1 buah keras + a few white peppers

1 bruised lemon grass

Thick curry paste (5 tablespoon of Adabi crab/prawn curry powder + 2 tablespoon of cili boh + enough water for a thick paste)

100ml of evaporated milk

 

Heat up wok with oil and sauté the pounded paste till aromatic. Add in the lemon grass and a teaspoon of mix spices (cumin + mustard seeds + 2pc of cloves). Then add in the onions and the curry paste. There’s this change of colour you can easily spot when making curry, it turn darker and that is the time to add in the protein. Once it come to boil, lower the heat and add in some water and the evaporated milk. Then put in the eggplants and let it simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Blue crabs make great seafood stock and adding prawns make it even better. The curry spot this a sweet hint and creamy gravy from the evaporated milk. I didn’t bother making another dish to go with it so there is just white rice and curry.