Bread

The ingredients:

700gm of flour

1 packet of instant yeast

100gm of sugar ( i use brown sugar)

1 teaspooon of salt

1 egg

400 ml water

70gm butter / shortening

50 ml milk

150 gm of mix fruits

Step 1: Sieve flour and mix well with the yeast and add in the water.  It’s going to be messy and wet and after mixing/kneading it let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add in sugar, salt, egg,  butter and milk. Mix them well and let it rest for another 20 minutes.

Step 3: Add in the mix fruits, and by now it should have risen up nicely. Feel free to apply the punch technique.

 

You can weigh about 50gm and set em on the baking tray, otherwise I just freehand-rustically throw in unevenly on a greased tray.

Let it rest another 15-20 minutes, milk glaze it then bake for 170’c 45 minutes. If the top starts to turn too brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil.

Happy breading

I’m pretending it’s summer

Yeah with the strawberries I got from the flea market @ the curve, and few tips from Bernie, here it goes.

- puff pastry

- mascarpone cheese

- heavy cream

- sugar

- lemon zest

- vanilla essence

A 3 simple step:

Step 1: Roll the puff pastry thinly and lay e’m on a baking tray. Poke randomly with a fork. Pop it into a pre-heated oven on 210’c for about 20 minutes or till golden crisp. Let it rest on the cooling rack.

Step 2: Whip the heavy cream with sugar still it’s whipped up and fold in the mascarpone cheese, add in zest from a lemon and vanilla essence. Spread  the cream onto the pastry once it has cool down.

Step 3: Lay those strawberries and some icing sugar. And EAT.

I’ve been cooking despite being busy

Haven’t been updating recently, but that doesn’t mean the kitchen ain’t smokin’.

It’s always smokin hot.  Always!!!

In the midst of balancing my corporate side of life, I still made time to tend my lil-balcony garden, rearranging furniture, sing and of course cook.

Over the past few weeks I’ve made:

Spicy grilled fish. With ladies finger and a squeeze of lime.

Ooomphy.Assam Pedas fish, (My mom’s version)

By now most of you would know by now I’m a big fan of assam pedas ( i cook this dish so often)  and I’m lucky to have different people sharing with me their different recipes. Keep em coming!Being adventurous on one of the weekends, I decided to make Penang Assam Laksa. And making this dish means, I have to cook a huge portion out of it. I spent the next hour calling, sms-ing, e-mailing, facebook-ing people to come eat. I just can’t finish it on my own and I’ve love to share my food. :) And I love tiffins too!

Minced meat porridge with salted eggs and century eggs. Using anchovies stock, it gives the porridge the seafood tinge and I flourish the usual blandness of watery porridge using this beautiful taste of salty ‘taucu’ generously.

A good blend of Cantonese style porridge with the Teocheow ‘s taucu sauce.

This is for one of those rainy days, and I want something warm and fuzzy. Blanched baby potatoes, carrots and asparagus. Some rosemary, a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce,  and 4 pieces of medium browned steak (marinated with wine, chopped rosemary, oregano, paprika, salt, pepper) all popped into the oven for the next 20 mins @ 180’c.

Steak is tender, vegetables are crunchy and caramel-ly. Throw in some apricot kernels for the crunch and some easy stacking just to complete the presentation.

So yeah, I’ve been cooking.

Roast Ribs

For more reasons to celebrate life with food, here comes an impromptu lunch. Beer marinated, honey glazed pork ribs with  caramelised onion. Very very un-halal indeed.

About a rack of ribs, soaked in a can of beer (about an hour or so or more …)

And the marinade consist of:

- 3-4 tablespoons of honey,

- 2 tablespoons of chilli sauce

- 2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

-a pinch of cayenne pepper

- a pinch of fennel seed

-a pinch of oregano

- 1 piece of bay leave

- 4-6 bulb of garlic

- 1 onion

- salt & pepper

So after soaking the ribs long enough in the beer, rub the marinade and massage it well onto the ribs.

With layers of sliced onions as the base, roast the rib, bone side up in 170’c for an hour. Then turn over to the meat side up and roast for another 45 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with the balance of the beer with some sugar, salt pepper and a dash of flour.

Now … chomp chomp

a weekend of pound

So over the weekend while camping at home trying to  finish up proposals is, of course stressful. And like my typical way of managing my stress. I cook.

250gm of self raising flour

250gm of butter

200gm of sugar

4 eggs

two tablespoon of milk

a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

handful of mix fruits (raising, orange peel, nuts and etc.)

How difficult to bake? Easy peasy,

40 mins in 160’c and here you go. Fresh aroma of the butter and eggs.

Sitting at the balcony, watching tv and having fresh pound cake with a dollop of NZ icecream-fruits of the forest.

Oh, de-stressing.

Now back to my proposal.

King of all kings

The king of all fruits, the craziest burst of flavours, always the sharpest smell that fills the air and texture one will always remember.

So, my parents came for a visit (yet again) and this time, mum pass me this bag of filled with damp newspaper, and surprise surprise… it’s durian. All the way from Kelantan.

There’s this breed, which my parents would only eat, as they pre-order them when they start to fruit on the trees. No joke here, these breed are in high demand, and over the years my parents had made friend with the orchard owner. It’s the ‘kunyit’  / turmeric breed. And according to my parents, they have lotsa immitation breed claiming they are kunyit durians, and charge you for something it’s not.

Well, having durian the old school way isn’t too bad, and that reminds me of the excitement of ‘opening’ my durians when I younger.

So I decided to do it at the balcony, with newspapers all placed and a cleaver in hand.

First you cut/chop along the lines. Two cuts at least, and after doing so, use the sides of the cleaver to push for space.

Then using upper body strength, open the crack! There’s the excitement when you see some of the golden flesh. And the smell…. Yum yum.

Look at those beautiful baby.

 

And without further adieu, you feast.

I like my durian sweet with a tinge of bitter after taste. The bitter aftertaste that lingers in the mouth always give a nice conclusion to it’s early creamy, pungenty texture. And especially if they have those smaller-wrinkly-shrinkly seeds, you know that you’re getting more durian flesh than seeds.

Then came the part you work your way thru other goodies. Squat down and use upper body strength again to crack open them.

Oh what a beautiful day.

Recipe from my 4th Aunt

Coming back from my working trip, I had this cravings of my 4th aunt’s version of ‘assam fish’. So while driving back home, I called her and ask for the recipe. And she’s more than happy to share;

Steamed rice with a sunny side up, and a dash of soy sauce.

Assam Fish with cucumber.

Her version is easy to make, but it doesn’t compromise the taste, in fact, I love it very much. 

All you need is:

1. 2-3 inches of turmeric, a handful (green) cili padi –> all mashed up / blended into paste,

2. 1 tablespoon of rice soaked in hot water, 1 onion, 3 pcs lemon grass, 4-5 pcs of assam keping, 100ml of assam jawa juice, a tablespoon of belachan,

3. ikan kembong – 6pcs (abt 800gm)

4. 1 large cucumber

Method:

1. boil about 2 litre of water, and add in the blended paste and let it simmer for about 35 mins.

2. Add in ingredients #2. and let it simmer for another 20 mins.

3. Add in fish and cucumber (can be replaced with ladies finger too) and let it boil for another 15 mins, and salt to taste.

Simple?