Cooking experiments: Orange & Pink pancakes.

Salam,

This morning after we woke up, I decided to make some pancakes as my kids really love to eat them. Usually I make the simple pancakes using flour, an egg, milk, a pinch of salt and also a pinch of baking powder. However today, I wanted to make a twist by adding some drops of food colouring to make them look more interesting. After looking at the options of food colouring that we have, I chose the red and orange food colouring.

My daughters were so happy to help out when we were preparing the pancakes. I made one bowl of the red pancake mixture and another bowl for the orange pancake mixture. My daughters helped to stir the mixture and for each mixture we managed to make about 4 large pancakes.

The result? Well......................You have to see the photos:

Do you think those are presentable enough to enter The Masterchef Malaysia? hehe

Based on popular demand.

Salam to all,

All right ladies and gentlemen, based on the popular demand ececeh mcmla popular sgt blog ni. hehe asking me to share the Curry Pasta Bake recipe, I'm going to give you the recipe in this entry. Lately, most my entries were about us leaving NZ for good and the events where we had to say good bye to our friends here. I promise you, this is a happier mode entry compared to my previous entries.

Before I give you the recipe, let's see the photo of the dish:

The original recipe was taken from one of Malaysian's magazines; "Majalah Rasa". However, it has been changed a little bit to suit my family's taste. ada sikit2 perasan mcm Chef yg pandai nak ubah suai resipi hehe

Curry Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
300 g pasta (any kind but I love to use macaroni or lasagne)
250 g mince meat
3 tbsp of curry powder (diluted in 3 tbsp of water)
2 large onions
1 clove of garlic (more of you love garlic)
1/2 cup of grated carrots
1/2 cup of peas (or can be replaced with other veges)
Some salt and pepper
375 g/ 1 1/2 cups of fresh milk 
6 eggs (beaten with fork)
1 cup of grated cheese (Parmesan or Edam or your preferable kind)
3 tbsp vegetable oil/ olive oil

 Method: 
1. Preheat your oven at 180 degree Celsius. 
2. Pour the vegetable oil/Olive Oil in a pan and add the minced meat when it's properly heated. Let it brown.
3. Add the onions and garlic. Stir the mixture.
4. Add the curry powder. Stir the ingredients until they are well mixed. You'll get the nice curry smell after that. :D
5. Add the grated carrots and also the peas. Then sprinkle some salt and pepper.
6. Pour the milk when the mixture looks dry enough. Stir for few minutes.
7. Get the baking dish. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.
8. Pour the beaten eggs on top of the mixture. Make sure the whole mixture is covered with the beaten eggs.
9. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top looks brown.

So, what do you think? Does it looks quite complicated? I think this dish is actually what we used to call "Makaroni Bakar". My playcentre friends expected that I would bring a Malaysian dish but since the said for the potluck party, we were required to bring only a plate of food to be shared, I decided to make this dish. alah kira malaysia punya resipi jugak kan sbb dah tambah serbuk kari. hehe If I were to bring other special dish, I had to bring more than one plate right? They already used to eat fried rice, fried noodles or any kind of Chinese food since there are many immigrants from China who own the Oriental fast food chains.

And now, if you happen to try this recipe, you can alter a bit of here and there to make it your own recipe. That's what the Famous Chefs all over the world have been doing. They don't really come out with their own recipes but they find some old recipes and changed some of the ingredients and the presentation to make it their own. What are you waiting for? Let's get cooking. *wink, wink*.

A Simple Mussel Dish: Kirikiriroa Hot and Sweet Mussel.

Salam to all,

How are you? What are your activities this weekend? Here in NZ, this is a long weekend since it's Easter Holiday (from Friday 2nd April-Monday 5th April). We aren't going anyway except for going for food supplies shopping and maybe visiting some friends. apala melalut ni sbb sebenarnya nak kongsi resipi mudah je hehe

This morning, we went out shopping at the Pak n Save (a supermarket), Prime Halal Meat (our favourite buther-there are other butcher outlets that sell halal meats as well) and Fruitworld (our favourite vegetable and fruit shop).

The unplanned dish for our lunch today was a simple muscle dish that I called "Kirikiriroa Hot and Sweet Mussel". All right, now let's see the ingredients:

From top left: Ginger (abt 1 inch), Garlics (3 cloves), Hot Chillies (put more if you like it very hot) and Onions (2)

The most important ingredient! : 1 kg of Mussel

2 tablespoons of Chilli Paste with Soya Bean Oil (or you can use chilli powder),A glass of water and

I forgot to take a photo of the salt and abt 3 tablespoons of cooking oil. So, don't forget those ingredients too! hehe

Now ladies and gentlemen, let's see the methods:

1.Heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.

2.Saute garlics, ginger, chillies and onions until they look brown.

3. 2 tablespoons of chilli paste or chilli powder.Cook until the mixture looks well blended.

4. Pour in the water.

5. Put all the mussels in the pan.

6. Get a pot lid to cover in order to steam it for about 20-25 minutes. Don't forget to check it from time to time. When all of the mussel shells are slightly opened, you know that the dish is ready.

7. Garnish the dish with coriander or spring onions. (It's optional)

What do you think of the dish? It's pretty easy and simple right? I really love to share some simple recipes as it makes my life easier. Plus this dish can be prepared in about 35-40 minutes (including the preparation). You can use other seafood like cockles, pipis,  or any seafood that comes in shells. teringat kat "Etok". balik Kelate mesti nok cari etok.  So, have fun cooking this!

Simple icings. (for home-made cakes)

I've been making cakes for my family ever since we came here (NZ). Baking is one way for me to cure my boredom and at least we don't have to buy the ready-made cake that might contain non-halal ingredients. (yelah, tak pasal2 kan mkn kek tak halal). 


In my previous entry abt "Series of unfortunate events", I've uploaded the birthday cake for my eledst daughter, Fathini that has sour cream icing. So, in this entry I would like to share some simple icing recipes. (sources from the internet and cooking books which I can't recall since I borrowed them from Hillcrest library). 

If you would like to seal the cake and stop the crumbs working their way into the icing, you have to apply a glaze on it. Here's a simple glaze:
  

Apricot Glaze-

Ingredients: 1/2 cup apricot jam & 1tbsp water. 

                        

Methods: 

• Heat the apricot jam in a pan with the water. 
• Rub through a sieve to remove any lumps.
• Return to the pan and heat until boiling before brushing carefully over the cake.

Butter Icing- 

Ingredients: 

• 25g/2 tbsp of melted  butter.
• 1 tbsp milk.
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted.
  

Methods: 

• Mix all the ingredients together and spread the icing on your cake.
• If you would like to add some colours, divide the icing into half and drop some food colouring on the mixture.

Sour cream icing- 

Ingredients: 

• 175g sour cream. (or you can also use cream cheese)
  
• 1 1/2 cups (or less) of icing sugar.
• 1 tspn vanilla essence.
• 1-2 tspn lemon juice.
  

Methods: 

• Beat the sour cream and butter until smooth.                                        
• Gradually add the icing sugar alternately with the vanilla and lemon juice, beating until light and creamy.
• Spread the icing over the cake.
  

Try this simple icing recipes when you make your home-made plain cakes like butter cake, chocolate cake or even for carrot cake. I personally prefer the sour cream icing and most of the time, I reduce the icing sugar because I don't have the sweet tooth. walaupun ambo oghe Kelate, ambo tok make manis2 sgt. tok tahu bakpo. It's been my pleasure to share some simple cooking recipes as I believe that even with simple cooking, we can make it look and taste good when we keep trying and improving our cooking techniques. Betul tak?

                                               

 

Apricot Muesli Bars Recipe

Do you like to eat healthy snack bars? Do you normally buy those snacks bars from your favourite supermarket or from any shop? tak tahu kenapa nak tulis "favourite supermarket' tu. I've been meaning to share this quick and easy recipe of making healthy snack bars. This recipe is taken from "Cooking For Your Child" by Nicola Galloway. My daughters (anak2 dara saya) like to eat this snack bars/muesli bars as it is easy and they always have these bars in their lunchboxes. 

Apricot Muesli Bars

Apricot Muesli Bars
Ingredients:
100g soft dried apricots, roughly chopped (substitute with other dried fruits-if you like) 
100g dates or other dried fruits, roughly chopped
(you can choose your own combination of dried fruits)
Juice of 1 orange or 1/3 cup fruit juice
2 eggs beaten
75g butter, melted
2 cups fine rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut or equivalent rolled oats
1/3 cup plain flouor
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50g chocolate chips


Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 180'c. Grease a 20x30 cm tin or line with baking paper.
2. Chop the dried fruits in a food processor with the orange juice until minced. saya pakai pisau je sbb tak de food processor.huhu
3. Add eggs and melted butter and pulse briefly.
4. Mix together the oats, coconut, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
5. Make a well in the middle, pour in the minced fruit mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Firmly press teh mixture into the greased tin. (saya tekan jari2 dan tekan biar kuat2 biar pdt)
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden on top and firm to the touch.
8. Cut it into 12-16 bars -depending on the your own preferred size.
9. Cool in the tin. 
10. Store in an airtight container or freeze.

 P/S: I've tried this recipe few times and I had few variety of muesli bars. I only did the Apricot Muesli Bars once because my daughters hate eating apricot in the bars. tak tahula kenapa

The simplest kebab a.k.a. cara buat kebab yg paling senang utk org2 yg malas...

Last week (sorry tak ingat hari apa), I was so lazy to prepare meals for my family. The main reason was, we still had heaps of leaftovers from the feast we had last Sunday. We had to eat noodle soup for 2 days. (mee dgn kuah sup tulang). Fried noodle with beef satay for another 2 days and when I was run out of ideas on how to cook meat, I just made the simplest kebab.

Why was it the simplest? hehe. It's because I just use Lebanese bread for the base and bake some meat and then stuffed the bread with the baked beef, sauces and veges. Here are the pictorial steps that you can follow (if let's say you feel so lazy to cook-hehe):

The baked beef/or you can grill it

 

Lebanese bread (or any instant flat bread)

 

some veges (choose the one you like)

Mayonnaise, tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce

Place the beef on the bread

top with some veges

pour some mayonnaise, tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce (segala mak nenek sos yg anda suka)

Just wrap it and cut it into smaller pieces. (pls ignore my sloppy job in wrapping. hehe)

This kind of kebab is one of the popular halal food that we can easily buy here in New Zealand. (tu pun bukan semua kebab halal ye kat sini, kena juga check). Normally it costs about NZD7 or NZD8 each. All right, I need to go back to the kitchen as I need to make another meal using meat! SIGH... This time, I want to make All kinds of Spices Beef Soup. hehe (apa tu, ntahla, rasanya resipi campak2 semua bhn2 yg ada kat dlm lemari dapur).

Top Chef?........or is it my own imagination.....

I like to watch"Top Chef" or "Master Chef" programmes on tv lately as they show that cooking is an exciting thing to do. (well, minus the pressure and expectations). Lately, some of my friends ordered some food from me and I've started to imagine myself as one of the contestants whenever I prepare the food. (hehe). Of course, the kinds of food they like to prepare are totally different from our kinds of food. But I doesn't stop me from wanting to try my best in preparing the best food for my friends. Maybe I'm not so good in decorating the food as I'm not so creative in that part. I'm quite lucky as Malaysian food doesn't need to be decorate so much as we care more about the taste. (iye ke? maybe it's just my own opinion. )

Last week, I've been asked to prepare fried noodle a.k.a mee goreng and macaroni baked for 50 people by WUMA (Waikato University Malaysian Association). It's for their meeting which would be on Saturday, 17 Oct, with new MSD (Malaysian Student Department) director here, Dr. Rosli Mohammed.The meeting would only be for the students as they are going to discussed things related to them. They are actually having the meeting while I'm typing this entry.

The cooking operation (note the word operation. haha) started last night when I cut 2 kg beef, I cooked 2 bags of macaroni pasta and sauted garlic, onion with chooped tomatoes and canned tunas.You might wonder why did I started so early? Well, eventhough fried noodles and macaroni baked are quite easy, when you have to cook in a large quantity, you need more time for the preparation. (tambah2 kalau mcm I yg still tak terer masak ni. lambat sikit masak2 ni)

This morning by 7 a.m. , I took out 8 packets of noodles (mee kuning tu, mahal tau kat sini sepaket $4.50), the prepared beef, 2 packets of shrimps, chives and beansprouts. Before I fried the noodles, I had to mix the macaroni sauce with the cooked macaroni and sprinkled with some cheese. The macaroni then went into the oven for about 40 minutes. For the first time after about 3 years, I used the gas cooker stove top that we bought last week. Usually, most of the time, I have to cook using the electrical stove tops. You might wonder; so what's the difference? When we use the electrical stove tops, we have to wait longer before it's really heated and we have to be careful with the volume as we don't want to burn our food without cooking it properly. The gas cooker stove tops; well most of you know because that's what we normally use in Malaysia. But if you never use it, the gas cooker stove tops would be so much easier compared to the electrical one. (apala dah melalut sgt ni. sorry...)

In order to make my job easier, I sauteed garlics, onions, chilli paste with the beef and shrimps first. After it's ready, I scooped out the base and pour it into a big bowl. Next, I put a packet of noodle and mix it with 1/8 of the base. The beansprouts and chives would be put later when the noodle looked nicely cooked. Of course I also pour some sauces like chilli sauce, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce,soy sauce and some salt. I cooked about 8 batches of fried noodles and I finished cooking at about 11 a.m. I was so relieved that I managed to finish cooking before they came to pick up the food. There was not much decoration for the fried noodles as I just sprinkled some fried onions on top of each containers and they were ready. I have to mention that I got some helps from my hubby too along the cooking process. He helped to stir the noodles and hold the big frying pan when I need to transfer the noodles into the containers. Thanks sayang! Love you so much (jgn muntah lak baca ni. hehe)

I only managed to snap two pictures of me while frying the noodles. I didn't really have time to pose as I was afraid that the food wouldn't be ready on time! I even forgot to take a picture of the noodles and the macaroni baked. There were 4 big containers of fried noodles and a big container of macaroni baked. Maybe next time (if there's another order. huhu), I will remember to take heaps of the food photos.

Kenapa aku suka memasak skrg.

(antara hasil masakanku).

Hr ni aku terasa nak menulis pasal memasak. (sila tengok tajuk). Bukan nak berkongsi resepi tapi nak bercerita sikit pasal pengalaman memasak di perantauan ni. Dulu2, aku ni malas sikit nak masuk dapur. Kalau masuk dapur pun, setakat nak masak nasi, goreng lauk dan goreng sayur. Tu pun ada supervisor. (saper lg kalau tak arwah ma). Kalau aku memasak ni, dr dulu2 lagi aku selalu je ada masalah dgn rasa. Sbbnya aku ni tak suka makan masin2 sgt. Arwah ma selalu menegur pasal ni. Aku pernah merajuk bila masakanku di komen oleh arwah ma. (menyesal merajuk dgn mak sendiri sbb menyusahkan dia jer. huhu).

Okay, skrg aku nak menyenaraikan sebab2 aku suka memasak skrg:

1. Dah namanya jadi surirumah skrg, kenala memasak untuk suami dgn anak2.
2. Banyak masa terluang skrg, jadi banyakla masa untuk memasak dan buat eksperimen memasak.
3. Anak2 pula kedua-duanya perempuan, jadi diaorg pun rajin nak menolong walaupun masih kecil. (Yg sulung tu dah bolehla buat yg senang2 sbb dah umur 4 thn).
4. Kat sini (Hamilton, New Zealand) tak banyak kedai makan halal, jadi kalau terasa nak makan apa2 yg special, kenala berusaha memasak sendiri.
5. Kawan2 kat sini pun ramai jugak dari Malaysia. Diaorg pun rajin mencuba pelbagai resepi. Jadi macam ada motivasi dr kawan2 jugak. Lps tu tok guru pakar masak pun ramai. (K.As la antara tok guruku ).
   
6. Adikku yg skrg tinggal di Fukuoka, Jepun pun makin rajin mencuba pelbagai resepi. Jadi kami ni mcm nak berlumba2 nak jadi hebat dlm bidang masakan.
7. Tiap kali memasak, mesti teringat arwah ma. Arwah ma memang terkenal di sekolahnya dan di kampung, dgn kepandaiannya dlm bidang masakan. Jadi, aku pun kalau boleh nak jadi pandai walaupun tak sehebat arwah ma.
8. Suamiku juga selalu bagi galakan untuk mencuba pelnagai jenis masakan. Yg bagusnya dia tak cerewet. Jadi diala tukang komen, tukang rasa dan bg kritikan membina. (biasala kalau kritik tu berlapik2 sbb tak nak aku merajuk tak nak masak dah lain kali. hehehe)
9. Memasak ni boleh dijadikan sumber pendapatan. Aku adala ambik tempahan sikit2 dr kwn di sini. Biasanya diaorg tempah kek sbb aku memang rajin buat kek.
10. Hmm apa lagi sbbnya. Jap......sebenarnya kalau tak masak, alamaknya kebulurla kami di perantauan ni. heheheh.
    

First ever project. (during school holidays)

If u have read my entry before regarding my plans, u definately know that I have lots of plan to occupy my kids during this school holidays. Today(7 July 2009), I've started with the first one. We (my kids, my friend's kid and I) made chocolate chip cookies. Well, I prepared the cookie dough and asked the children to help me by putting the cookies on the baking sheets.


(My daughter, Fathini n her friend Nazlah were putting the dough on the baking sheet)

They were so excited to be able to help me as they had some opportunities to do some baking in their schools too. They really listened to my instructions. However, my youngest daughter, Hafizah was just watching us. She might be too little to join in this kind of activity. I might try to involve her in other activities. We were able to bake four batches of choc. chip cookies.
(The process of baking the cookies)

We waited for about 25 minutes before we could try the first batch of the cookies. Of course, the kids couldn't wait to try the cookies. When the cookies were ready, the kids were gobbling (not really eating) even though I asked them to make sure that the cookies were not too hot. After they have gobbled about 3-4 cookies each, they resumed with their playing activities. The cookies that they made were actually quite big compared to what I used to do. But, I was happy because I could involve them in the process.

( the first batch of the cookies- the cooked ones)

I can share the recipe here. But I have to tell you that my late mum got this recipe from somewhere. We've been using this recipe for a long time and it's a must for our family to have this cookies during Eid. (Raya Posa).

Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Ingredients

• 100g brown sugar
• 112g caster sugar
• 150g butter/margarine
• 2 eggs
• 285g standard flour
  
• 175g choc chip
• 60g walnut (I used almonds as I prefer almonds)
• 25g dessicated coconut
• 2.5g salt
• 2.5g vanilla essence

The methods

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  
• Beat the melted butter with the brown sugar and caster sugar.
  
• Break one egg, beat again. Then, break the second one before you beat again.
• Next, put some flour, choc chip, walnut (or almonds) n dessicated coconut. Put each ingredients bit by bit and mix them.
  
• Use two teaspoons to scoop out some dough and put each one on the baking sheet.
• The cookies should be ready after 20-25 minutes or they look brown enough.