Saturday 28 January 2012

Nasi Lemak with Prawn Sambal

This is a Malaysian dish....coconut milk rice that u can find it being sold daily but there's nothing like a homemade nasi lemak......especially with spicy prawns....


Serves 2
Nasi lemak:
 1 1/2 cup basmathi rice
80 ml thick coconut milk (mixed with enough water to obtain 3 cups of liquid)
2 slices of ginger
1/2 tsp sugar

2 pieces pandan leaves (tied into a knot)

Soak rice for 1/2 hour....Rinse well. Add in the coconut milk mixture, ginger, salt sugar and pandan leaves and cook in a rice cooker. Best served warm.


Prawn sambal :
15 medim sized prawns (deshelled and deveined)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp tamarind (dissolved in 5 tsp of water and retain juice)
1 pc lemongrass (bruised)
1 red onion (cut into rings)
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
some water

5 shallots and 3 clove garlic (pounded to make paste)
7 pcs dried chillies (cut and soaked in hot water till soft)- grind in a blender to make paste
1 pc candlenut (pounded and mixed with the dried chilli paste)

Heat half the oil. Pan fry prawns till half cooked and put them aside.
Add remainder of oil and add in shallot paste. Fry till aromatic. Add in the chilli paste and fry till oil separates ,about 8-10 mins (add oil if needed). Add in lemongrass.Add in onions.
Pour tamarind juice and some water and get it to a boil.
Lastly add the prawns, salt and sugar, Cook for 1-2 mins and take it off heat.

Rice accompaniments :
Serve coconut rice with prawn sambal, boiled egg, fried anchovies, cucumber and pan fried groundnuts.
Couldnt get cucumber so made some kailan to serve with rice as I always like green veggies.....


Tuesday 24 January 2012

First Award

Thanks to Pranati from Pranati's Kitchen for giving me my first award for my Baked Raspberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis

Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Custard

This recipe is taken from Food Network Asia - by Paula Deen (made slight changes)
Ingredients :

1 loaf of french bread (cubed)- i used a long baguette
3 cups milk
1/4 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup chocolate milk
1/4 cup espresso
3/4 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 /2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 eggs , lightly beaten
150 gm chocolate chips

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160 C.
2. Lightly grease 33 by 23 cm or 25 by 25 cm baking dish and fill it with the bread cubes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, choc milk and coffee.
4. In another bowl, combine castor sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder and mix well. Add this to the milk mixture. Whisk to combine.
5. In a medium bowl, add vanilla essence and cinnamon powder to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture into the milk mixture . Add in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour this mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Let it stand for about 20 mins till the bread absorbs most of the milk mixture.

Bake the pudding for 1 hour or until set....insert a skewer in the center to check. Serve warm or cold...with vanilla custard....recipe follows.

Vanilla Custard Sauce

25gm granulated sugar
2 tsp cornflour
a pinch salt
180 ml milk
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method : In a small saucepan, whisk sugar, cornflour and salt together until well blended. Whisk in the milk and cook over low heat till almost boiling. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and vanilla until well blended. Add a couple of tbsp of the hot milk from the saucepan and whisk to temper the eggs. Add resulting egg mixture to the rest in the pan. Whisk to combine.
Cook over low heat, stirring continuously until sauce thickens.

 

Sending this to Chocolate FestChocolate LoverBake Fest ,   Family Friendly fridays

 


Monday 16 January 2012

Dry Chilli Chicken

This is a spicy, mouthwatering dish.....
Ingredients :

500gm chicken
5 tbsp oil
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamons
4 cloves
1 tsp aniseed
1 big onion (sliced)
some curry leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt
enough water

To grind :
10 dried chillies (soaked in hot water for 10 mins)
1 tbsp vinegar
5 shallots
5 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger

Heat oil. Fry cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and aniseed. Add sliced onions and curry leaves.
Add in ground chilli paste once onion is soft. Saute till almost dry.
Add chicken, tomato paste, salt and some water. Mix well.
Cook covered, stirring occasionally till dish is dry and chicken is cooked. Serve hot with rice :)






Wednesday 11 January 2012

Fish In Spicy Red Thai Curry

This is a spicy red thai curry....full of flavour....used the thai red curry paste I got from the local market during my last visit to Thailand...u can easily use packaged thai curry paste or make your own...

Ingredients:
400-500 gm fish (cubed)- I used mackerel
grind to make paste :
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger

1 medium sized onion
some curry leaves
1 1/2 tbsp red curry paste
1 cup thick coconut milk
3 tbsp tomato puree
chopped coriander leaves
salt
oil

Method :
In a wok, add oil and heat....fry the onion till transparent.
Then add ground paste, fry well till oil separates.
Add curry paste and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil.
Add the fish, cook a little and add coconut milk, tomato paste, coriander, salt.
Cook till fish is done and remove from heat.
Serve with rice or indian breads.

Friday 6 January 2012

La Chocolat French Toast

Made this for breakfast today...a change to the original french toast....

Ingredients :

(for 2 persons)

4 slices of bread (cut into triangles)
2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup of milk
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

 to serve :
some sliced strawberries and 2 golden kiwis (sliced)
chocolate sauce to serve and icing sugar for dusting

Mix together all the above mentioned ingredients.
Heat a non-stick pan and melt some butter....
Dip slices of bread in the batter and cook over the pan till cooked on both sides.
Serve hot with fruits, chocolate sauce and a dusting of icing sugar.


Sending this to my ongoing event Chocolate Lover. Also to Chocolate Mela and
Chocolate FestValentine's Day Event

Monday 2 January 2012

Back to Basics - Butter Cake

Butter Cake
My first recipe for 2012...a simple, moist, soft, buttery cake.....this recipe is a keeper...


Ingredients :

250 gm unsalted butter (left at room temperature for an hour)
200gm castor sugar
1tbsp pure vanilla extract / paste
4 eggs
315 gm cake flour
15 gm baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
210 ml buttermilk / milk

Method :
Heat oven at 170 degrees celcius.....
Beat butter till creamy. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until well combined.
Add eggs one by one.
On low speed, add flour and milk alternatively in 3 batches. Add baking powder, salt and mix.
Turn batter into a 9 inch prepared pan and smooth surface with a spatula.
Reduce oven temperature to 150....Bake for about 60 mins or till skewer inserted comes out clean...Baked mine 5 minutes longer..








Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone....hope you are all having a good start of the year...I spent 3 days in Singapore and yesterday we visited Johor Premium Outlets which sells all the branded stuff at a discounted price and then had dinner at Haven Restaurant, Lookout Point Ampang. We took the romantic package where they gave us the best table which had a wonderful view of the city
...food was awesome too...started with Mushroom Soup and Tempura Prawn....then I had the grilled salmon while my husband had lamb chop....they gave us banana split for dessert...i wasnt totally impressed by the dessert but it was a package....overall, it;s a place I will think of going again...