Chicken rendang

In my mind, a rendang of any sort has to have a thick coconuty dark gravy... But these days I find that is not the case anymore...

I often watch Jackie M's videos on how to cook Malaysian dishes and boy she does make it seem so easy!

So upon watching one of her videos, she highly recommended using Mak Siti's Rendang Spice Mix, not only to make rendangs but also can be added to different curries as well.

Last year, during MFest at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, we saw a stall selling this spice mix and I bought one and it has been sleeping in my pantry for a good 5 months!

The good thing is at the back of the packet, there are simple instructions to follow.


So here's how I made Rendang Chicken using Mak Siti's Rendang Spice Mix.

Ingredients:

125g Mak Siti's Rendang Spice Mix
1 red onion, chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, only the white part
2 inches galangal
4-5 pandan (screwpine) leaves
1 stalk curry leaves
2 kg chicken drumstick, skin removed
3 tbsps olive oil
1 cup reduced fat coconut milk
1.5 cups magnetised water
Himalaya rock salt to taste

Method:

1. Blend onion, lemongrass and galangal until fine. (If you prefer a spicier version, add some red chillies)
2. Heat oil in a wok and sauté blended ingredients until aromatic.
3. Add Mak Siti's Spice Mix and stir well. Cook until the oil separates.
4. Add pandan leaves, snip curry leaves and chicken pieces and stir until the spices coat the chicken.
5. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
6. Add coconut milk, water and salt and allow to cook, on a medium to low heat, covered until it reduces to your liking. This might take up to 20 minutes.
7. Dish up, sprinkle with chopped spring onions to garnish.


This is more of a curried version of chicken rendang instead of the typical rendang. Nevertheless, it tasted good!

A Malaysian Staple - Nasi Lemak (with Chicken Rendang)

If V gets a chance, he'll have nasi lemak for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week...as long as there's ikan bilis goreng (fried dried anchovies) and hard-boiled eggs...


Growing up in Malaysia, I hardly ate nasi lemak. My quota would be once a year! Seriously! Coconut rice and sambal laden with oil; the fear of increased cholesterol levels was a horror story to me and my family...You see, my grandma (maternal) had a big influence in our lives growing up... She was always "reminding" us to drink water, don't eat chicken skin, reduce salt, drink water, reduce oil, drink water, no fried food, reduce sugar, drink water! And today, all those words are etched in our minds and for those who know me, they often see me carrying a gigantic 2L water bottle around. :D

So if there was a time when we made nasi lemak at home, we always ate it with white rice(we do make coconut rice but as far as I can remember, it was once in 5 years...). Oh yes, my mom makes a killer nasi lemak sambal by the way!

In Malaysia, nasi lemak is not as fancy as the ones you get here in Sydney. You do get the fancy ones with chicken rendang, ayam masak merah or fried chicken at cafés and malls but the classic ones are wrapped in banana leaf and paper containing coconut rice, sambal, ikan bilis, 1/8th of a hard-boiled egg, a few slices of cucumbers and some peanuts.

Source: http://michellmansuet.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/how-life-can-relate-to-bungkus-of-nasi.html

Source: http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/nightbird-bites-123353639.html

Nasi lemak is actually pretty easy to make. Well, in my case, I always have a packet of ready made sambal and making the sambal is usually the one that is time consuming. I also keep a vegetarian and non-vegetarian sambal just in case. The non-vegetarian ones are the ones that have shrimp paste. 

Here's my version of my nasi lemak - a reduced fat version.. ;P

Serves 6

Coconut rice

Ingredients:

3 cups Jasmine rice

1 can (400ml) reduced fat coconut milk

4 pieces ginger (crushed lightly to release flavour)

4-5 pandan (screwpine) leaves

magnetised water

Himalayan rock salt

Method:

1. Wash rice until the water is clear. 

2. Add washed rice and coconut milk into a rice cooker.

3. Top up with enough water. I use the finger method to measure. Otherwise, ensure the rice and water + coconut milk ratio is 1:2

4. Add ginger, pandan leaves and salt, cover and cook.

5. Once cooked, loosen the rice and remove ginger slices and pandan leaves and serve hot.

Sambal

This is my biggest cheat....Ready made sambal...

1. Heat up contents in a wok for a couple of minutes and dish up. 

The perfect hard- boiled egg

Many years ago, I remember watching a cooking show on the telly teaching how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs ; the ones without a grey ring around the yolk (overcooked).

Place 5 eggs  into a pot filled with water and bring it to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes and let cool. Once the water is cool enough i.e. you can put your hand into the water, peel the eggs. Another tip is to

place the eggs in cold tap water and it makes peeling easier.

Fried peanuts & fried dried anchovies

1. Heat some oil in a wok or pan and toss about 300g of peanuts and fry for about 5 minutes, tossing every minute or so.

2. Drain on a paper towel once ready and sprinkle with himalayan rock salt.

3. Rinse 200g of cleaned, dried anchovies and fry in some oil for 5 minutes or until golden brown. 

4. Drain on a paper towel and serve.

Note: I get my stock of anchovies from Malaysia thanks to V's Brother-in-law and sister; fresh, cleaned, headless dried anchovies from Kuala Selangor, a fishing village in Selangor.

Stir-fried beans

Something that I can't stand is not having vegetables of some sort in a meal. Nasi Lemak...hhmmmpphhh...besides the few slices of cucumber there's practically no fibre! So frozen beans to the rescue!!!!

This dish is too simple..really...

In wok, heat some olive oil and toss in about 300g of frozen cut beans and allow to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste and dish out..


And finally, the chicken rendang...Click here for the recipe.


Happy eating!!!

Butterless Wholemeal Chocolate Kahlua Cake with White and Pink Russian Frosting

It was my BFF's birthday and the least I could do was to bake a "healthier" cake with some boooozeeeeee for her! hhihihihi.... This is another cake recipe without the use of a cake mixer! Yay!

This recipe is from The Collegiate Baker but I did some modifications. For one, I halved the recipe..so the guilt is halved!... ;P


Wholemeal Butterless Chocolate Kahlua Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup whole meal self raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp himalayan rock salt
0.875 tsp baking powder or half of 1 1/4 tsp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
0.375 cup kahlua or half of 3/4 cup
0.375 cup skim milk or half of 3/4 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degrees C and line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. In  a bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add salt and mix them well.
3. In another bowl, combine egg, sugar, oil, vanilla, Kahlua and milk. Mix well.
4. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.


White and Pink Russian Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup Kahlua
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp Himalayan Rock Salt
3-4 drops red food colouring

Method:

1. Place them all in a bowl and mix with a whisk until smooth.
2. Ice the cooled cake roughly.
3. With the balance frosting, add red colouring and whisk this combined. Place the frosting into a piping bag with a 1M tip.
4. Pipe pretty roses and stars onto the cake.

Note: When sifting wholemeal flour, the bigger pieces will remain in the sieve. Just toss them into the bowl with the flour.

Seaweed Crisps

Love Love seaweed!!! In recent years, in the spirit CNY, various new recipes have sprung up and they are ingenious!!!

This is one of them...SO simple to make and very very addictive....

Ingredients:

2 cups cooking oil
wonton skin
nori sheets
white sesame seeds
himalayan rock salt
1 bowl of magnetised water


Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. On a cutting board, lay 4 pieces of wonton skin.

3. Using a bush, wet the wonton skin to enable the nori sheet to stick on.

4. Place a nori sheet on the wonton skin and trim the excess.

5. Wet the  nori sheet with some water and sprinkle some sesame seeds on it. This has to be done quickly as the wet nori sheets will curl at the edges.

6. Place 4 wonton skin on the nori sheet and press down firmly so that they stick well.

7. Using a sharp knife, run through the edges to get 4 separate pieces.

8. Then, cut with a scissors, each section into 9 pieces.

9. Deep fry the pieces until golden brown. Approximately for 1 minute or less on each side. Remove and drain on a kitchen towel.

10. Add salt on the hot crisps and allow to cool before storing them in an air-tight container.

Asam Prawns

Assam prawn... being Malaysians, you will not find one who would say no to this (except for those who are allergic to seafood and maybe those who's worried of their cholesterol level)...:D

I always have a packet of asam paste and sambal paste in stock. As mentioned in an earlier post, these pastes have MSG in them. So I wouldn't recommend using them too frequently.... But they are definitely a handy thing to have in your pantry.

Prawn, being so expensive (therefore representing prosperity but also symbolises happiness and good fortune) is another must have dishes during CNY...of course besides the ever famous abalone, oranges, pineapple, peanuts, longevity noodles, fish and more!

So I decided to cook some prawns as part of our CNY reunion dinner menu...

Ingredients:

1  kg prawns (peeled and deveined)

1 packet asam fish paste

2 cups magnetised water

spring onions cut into 2 inches

Method:

1. Heat wok and pour in the asam fish paste and allow to cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add water and let boil.

3. Add prawns and cook for 7-8 minutes and add spring onions.

4. Dish out and serve hot.

Note: DO not throw the prawn shells as boiling them makes a killer stock which can be used to make the ever famous Malaysian Har meen (Prawn Mee)...

My version of a 15 minute meal - 2. Steamed silken tofu

Steamed silken tofu...just thinking of it makes me salivate. This is one of the first dishes I used to make for V and my sisters while we were still studying.

So I thought this is a must have at any Chinese dinner gathering we have... :D

Ingredients:

Source: http://magicjelly.com.au/blog/2012/06/vegan-poached-egg/

Firm Silken tofu
1 onion, chopped
7 garlic cloves, chopped
Spring onions, chopped for ganishing
2-3 tbsp Lee Kum Kee mushroom stir-fry sauce or oyster sauce
1 tbp olive oil


Method:

1. Invert tofu onto a plate that fits the steamer. Place tofu in the steamer and steam for about 10 minutes. Being half Chinese, I used a bamboo steamer my sister gave me.. :)
2. In another wok or pan, heat olive oil and add onions and garlic. Cook on a low to medium heat until the onions and garlic turn brown. Could take up to 5 minutes.
3. Add mushroom sauce (be careful as it'll spit like crazy) and stir well.
4. Pour the whole thing on the steamed tofu and garnish with chopped spring onion. Serve Hot!

Note: No salt needed as the mushroom sauce is quite salty..:)

My version of a 15 minute meal - 1. Blanched Bok Choy

The thought of being able to have a meal in 15 minutes (well, this excludes the cleaning up time), is quite comforting...

So my version, although may be bland to some people, is comfort food to me..

Steamed silken tofu, blanched bok choy with fluffy rice...yum!!

Here's the recipe for Blanched Bok Choy

Ingredients:

1 pot boiling water
1 tsp sugar
Bok choy, washed and trimmed at the bottom
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil


Method:

1. Once water in the pot is boiling, Add sugar. (If sugar is added before the water boils, the boiling point increases, therefore it'll take a longer time for the water to boil.) Sugar helps keep the green vegetable looking vibrant.
2. Add the bok choy and remove after 2 minutes.
3. Arrange them neatly on a serving dish and add olive oil, soy sauce and sesame oil.
4. Serve hot!

Sesame oil chicken

This one is definitely one of my favourite...So so easy and packed with flavour! This is one of those quick fix dishes as I always have all the ingredients (except chicken) in my pantry. So all I'll need to do is to grab some chicken on my way home and get cooking, with some brown rice cooking alongside (with Jamie Oliver's 15 min meals cooking mode on)..hhihiihihi...

This was another dish that I whipped up for CNY this year and I actually broke a new chopping board while chopping the chicken drumsticks into smaller bits... :(

Anyways, lets get cooking!!

Ingredients:

1.5 kg chicken drumstick chopped into 2, skin removed (Chicken skin has been and still is a big No No in our family...KFC included!)

thumb sized old ginger, cut into matchstick sizes

1 tbsp soy sauce

1.5 tbsp oyster sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee mushroom stir-fry sauce; I always use this as I cook quite a bit of vegetarian dishes as well)

1 tbsp ShaoXing rice wine

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp white pepper powder


Method:

1. Heat a wok and add sesame oil. Once the oil is smoking hot, add ginger and fry until fragrant.
2. Once the ginger becomes golden brown, add chicken and toss for around 10 seconds before adding all the remaining ingredients except water.
3. Allow the chicken to cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add water, stir well and cover the wok with a lid and reduce the flame to medium high and let the chicken cook further and the water reduces for about 5 minutes. Mix well to coat chicken with the gravy, dish out and serve hot!

Note: Add more water if you prefer more gravy.

Stir fried fish-fillet with black bean sauce

Despite being half Chinese, there are not many Chinese dishes I can cook...I try to look for simple yet tasty dishes for obvious reasons of course. One of my favourite blog is Rasa Malaysia. Here, you can find Malaysian Chinese recipes which take me back to my younger days.

For CNY, a fish dish is a must. So I decided to recreate this one from Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:

4 pcs frozen Basa fillets cut into 2 inches
2 tbsp Lee Kam Kee black bean sauce (with garlic)
1/2 onion, halved and quartered
1/2 green capsicum, cut into similar sizes as the onions
1 stalk spring onion, cut into 2 inches ling
5 slices ginger, cut into matchstick size
1/8 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tbsp corn starch mixed with 3 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Heat a wok and add the olive oil, followed by the ginger, onions, capsicum and stir fry until fragrant.
2. Add fish and stir quickly. Allow to cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add black bean sauce, fish sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Stir and allow fish to cook.
4. Add corn starch mix to allow sauce to thicken.
5. Finally, add spring onion, dish up and serve hot.

Note: For a vegetarian version, simply replace fish with vegetarian fish pieces and omit fish sauce. Add dried chillies for some more 'oommpphh'

My Favourite time of the year - CNY

Last year, somehow, I mistook Chinese New Year for being a day later. While 'facebooking', all my friends were posting about the famous reunion dinners with the amazing dishes and I realised something was amiss. Then to my horror, I discovered that CNY was the next day and I was running helter-skelter to clean up the house the night before and didn't even cook dinner!

To make matters worst, our car got ransaked that night and we lost plenty of stuff...almost $2-3k worth...So, the year didn't start off on a good note....As I didn't want to relive last year, I took extra precaution this year to ensure I get everything right...So V and I undertook a MASSIVE cleaning the weekend before...Thank Swami (God) it was the Australia Day holiday!

V and I started from the ceilings, to the floors to the balcony to the walls and windows and we scrubbed down every surface of the house and decluttered like crazy... This took more than a day..Doesn't help that we both a have little OCD...At the end of it all, we both stood tall, proud of our work...:D

Then, my cousin and her hubby said they would like to come over with little Joseph and their newborn, Daniel...A long overdue visit I should have made...but it worked out well at the end...

And lo and behold, I told V, this is the best opportunity for me to cook something up for a simple family reunion dinner. V said I was ambitious. But its CNY! It's all about the dishes that echo prosperity, longevity, vitality and whatever else good anyone can think of.

And here's the menu.....*drumroll********

Clockwise: Stir-fried Fish Fillets with Black Bean sauce, kangkung belacan, blanched bok choy, sesame oil chicken, steamed silken tofu  and asam prawns...

Click on the links to get the recipes...

We had a blast!!! Gorging, watching peppa pig, running around, counting buses, watering plants and waving at passers by...hahahhahhahaa..Thanks Sze Wen and Andy for coming over!

Salubrious Cantaloupe Spinach Juice

Apologies for not putting this up earlier...Needed to find time..No excuses; I know but now I am making some time for this now...and sorry again if I missed anything out..as I'm writing this while watching EPIC, the animation..hihihihii...multi tasking, I guess you can call it...As many of you know, I usually juice whatever I can find in my fridge and don't have a specific recipe...So this is one of my "accidental" recipes that tasted so darn good!


Salubrious Cantaloupe Spinach Juice

Its summer here and one of the things I love about it is the array of fruits we get!!! The choices are endless...

Out of curiosity, I googled the benefits of cantaloupe and found a few interesting facts.

The Healing Powers and Health Benefits of Cantaloupe Juice

Anti-cataracts

Antioxidant

Boosts Immune System

Detoxification

Prevents Skin Cancer (Melanoma)

Protection From colon Cancer

Protects From Macular Degeneration

Reduces Risk of Cancer

Reduces Thickening of Arteries


and here's my version of cantaloupe juice

1/2  ripe Cantaloupe skinned and cut into pieces
1 bunch english spinach, washed well
2 carrots
1 apple (red or green) deseeded


Run it through a good juicer. If the concoction is too thick, add some filtered & magnetised water and reap the benefits of nature!