Coconut Jelly

Hi Princess,
.

If you still remember, it was during our trip to Kota Kinabalu that we first tasted this Coconut Jelly & it was certainly love at a first bite. Honestly, it's not that I've never seen it here in KL ( what cant you get in KL, anyway? ) but the plain looking jelly never really caught my attention, let alone my appetite (yours is even worse). But then, I shouldnt have judge the taste by it's look coz looks can sometimes deceive you !

That's me & Acu with the finished jelly....but where were you then? Oppsss.....you're the one snapping the pic....hehehehe

Ever since our Sabah trip, we've never missed out buying this jelly whenever we bumped into them. When Tesco started selling the young coconut juice & flesh in a plastic container, I know one day I would be able to serve you my very own Coconut Jelly.

I got this recipe from the net ( really sorry, I cant remember the name of the website ) but I've reduced the amount of water used (since I feel 8 cups is a bit too much). The taste as how you described it : SUPERBLY GOOD !!!!

Coconut Jelly
Source : Idazs




Ingredients (makes about 20 cups)

10 grams jelly powder
2 cups sugar
8 cups coconut juice
6 cups water
2 pcs pandan leaves
Young coconut flesh


How To

1. Mix all ingredients (except for the coconut filling) & set to boil.

2. Cut the young coconut flesh into thin strips & place them in the moulds

3. Pour the jelly mix into the moulds & leave to cool.

Siew Mai (Steamed Chicken Dumplings)

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Marsya Dearie,

You know how much I love dim sum & I know you like it too (tho not as much . I blame it on those Chinese blood that runs through my veins which makes me adore Chinese food so much.

For your info, Dim Sum is a Cantonese term for a type of Chinese meal that involves small individual portions of food. There are various types of foods included in a Dim Sum meals such as char siew pau (steamed buns), dumplings, cheong fun (rice noodles rolls) etc. Among all, siew mai (steamed chicken dumplings) has been my all time favourite.

Finding a halal dim sum in town is not as easy as looking for a nasi lemak or capati. I've tried buying the frozen ones at the supermarket but the taste are so disappointing...... or it might just be my taste bud which has becoming pickier & pickier these days ~ sigh ~

After googling a few recipes on Siew Mai & comparing each & every one of them, I've come up with my own recipe for this favourite dish of mine. In one of those recipes, water chestnut is one of the ingredients & I thought of adding it too but unfortunately I couldnt find it at the supermarket. Maybe some other time then.

Nevertheless, I'm not trying to boast here but this Siew Mai was the best chicken dumplings I've ever tasted. I admit that the preparation was a bit tedious but the satisfaction is simply priceless !

Siew Mai
Source : Belle du Chef



Ingredients

200 gm minced chicken
200 gm prawns, minced
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp chicken stock granules
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
3 pcs black mushroom, soaked & finely chopped
4 stalks spring onion (white part only), finely chopped
2 tbsp tapioca flour
Shredded carrots
Wonton skins


How To

1. Mixed all ingredients (except for wonton skin & carrots) together.

2. Set aside in the fridge for 20 minutes.

3. Trim wanton wrappers into round shape and wrap some filling in it.

4. Place a tablespoon of filling on each wrapper, gather up the sides and leave the center open.

5. Garnish the top with some shredded carrot.

6. Steam at high heat for about 10 mins.

7. Serve hot either on its own or with chilli sauce.

Cheese Baked Eggplant

Eggplant - or brinjal as how the Brits call it & aubergine by the Europeans. While some people (Marsya, for instance ) hate it, I love eggplant so very much. It's one of those vegetables that's so versatile, and really hearty.You can do a lot of things with eggplant - fry it on it's own or with sambal, grill it (& eat it with sambal belacan) or just add it in curries for varieties.

When I was in Italy few years ago, my choices of food are limited to seafood & vegetables only. One thing I noticed is that, Italians just love to eat. For dinners, while others have 4-course meals (appetizer, main course, dessert & coffee) as a norm, theirs are 5 (antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno & dolce). Reason being, there are 2 main course which is the primary (pasta or rice) & secondary dish (chicken, meat or fish). Imagine having a steak after finishing your pasta - crazy isnt it? Well, that's how Italian reward themselves after a long day at work.

Among these 5 courses, antipasto is my favourite. I love Italian appetizers (which reminds me of Ciao Restaurant for their delicious antipasto). The choices they have for appetizers (which mostly consists of vegetables) are simply enormous. It was then that I learned the versatility of an eggplant. It was also then that I've tried my very first Baked Eggplant & it was love at a first taste !

Been googling the recipe for Baked Eggplant ever since but didnt really have the nerve to try it out for it might not turn out as how I expect it................not until yesterday. Where possible, every Friday I would meet up with a few of my friends of the Celibacy Club where we eat & talk as if we've never seen each other for ages. Yesterday I decided to invite them to my place & treat them home-cooked dinner.

Since one of them is on a diet where he's currently cutting off rice from his food regime, I've decided to cook them Italian dishes - Baked Eggplant for the antipasto, Spaghetti Marinara for the main course & Custard Caramel for the dessert. 

My Eggplant was a great success & I was the happiest person that night. The taste was superb - very the Italiano, I would say....hehehe. Over the years, I've collected a few Baked Eggplant's recipes & what I did yesterday was to mix & match these recipes and wallahhhh.....my very own Cheese Baked Eggplant.

Ingredients

2 medium sized eggplants

1 red capsicum, diced

5 ripe tomatoes, chopped

5 garlics, chopped

1 cup fresh sliced button mushrooms

1/2 can of Prego's Tomato & Basil spaghetti sauce

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp Italian herbs

Parsleys, cut into 3 cm long

Maozarella shredded cheese

Olive oil

Salt & sugar to taste

How To

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 Deg. C

2.  Slice the eggplants into 1 cm rounds & brush both sides with olive oil & bake for 10 mins.

3.  Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. 

4.  Add in the onion & fry till fragrant. Add in the tomatoes.

5.  Cook and stir for a few minutes until the tomatoes have released their juices.

6.  Add the spaghetti sauce along with the rest of the ingredients.

7.  Pour the spaghetti sauce over the baked eggplants.

8.  Spread the cheese on top into a thin layer & bake for 30 in the preheated oven.

9.  If you want to make it spicy, add some black pepper into the sauce. 

Apam Gula Hangus

It has been ages since the last time I posted a recipe in my blog. As how the songs & melody cant be separated for the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee, the same thing goes to me & cooking. Cooking is my passion & it's something I really love doing. It gave me some sort of pleasure nothing else could match up with.

A few of my friends have been complaining about the absence of new recipes in my blog. So, in order not to disappoint them, today I'm gonna post a simple yet marvelous recipe of a Malay traditional kuih called Apam Gula Hangus. Credit to My Resipi for this wonderful recipe.

There are 2 things I like the most about this particular apam. First, preparing it is very, very easy. No mixer, no sifting, no nothing - all you need is a blender & steamer. Secondly, is of course the outcome. The texture of this apam is super soft & fluffy and the taste is just so yummy ! everyone should try it - it's really good !

Here it goes :


Ingredients :

2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of hot water
1/2 cup of oil
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp condensed milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp soda bicarbonate

How To :

- Cook the sugar under small heat until it turns to golden brown
- Slowly add the hot water & cook till the sugar clumps dissolve
- Set aside to cool
- Put the eggs, milk, butter & oil into a blender & blend for approximately 3 mins.
- Add in the cold caramel & bicarbonate of soda & blend again.
- Finally put in the flour & blend till the mixture is well blended.
- Grease the mould & pour the mixture in.
- Steam it for approximately 40 mins.

Ketupat Sotong

In the spirit of Raya, I've decided to cook one of the East Coast's special dish last weekend. As most of other dishes coming out from this part of the country, the basic ingredient would be seafood as it is easier to get the fresh ones from the East Coast.

This special dish is made of glutinous rice stuffed in a squid, cooked in a special gravy and called Ketupat Sotong. As for the gravy, there are 2 versions for as long as I know - Kelantan style and Terengganu / Pahang style. The Kelantan style is of course much, much sweeter as it has Gula Melaka as one of the ingredients. As for the other version, the ingredients are more or less the same except for the Gula Melaka.

I've actually created my very own version of Ketupat Sotong to my own taste & desire. And when I said "to my own taste", it means lots & lots of chillies being consumed. So, rather than the traditional white gravy, my version of Ketupat Sotong has a flaming red hot sauce all over it & without any doubt, it's yummier !

So, here's the recipe :


Ingredients

6 medium sized squids
200 gm glutinous rice
3/4 cup of coconut milk


For The Sauce
A handful of dried chilles
2 stalks lemon grass
5 shallots
2 garlics
1 cm fresh tumeric
1 pc. tumeric leaf
1 cup of thick coconut milk
1 pc. of asam gelugor


How To
1. Steam the glutinous rice with coconut milk & a pinch of salt till cooked. Srt to cool.
2. Stuff the rice in the squid till 3/4 full & close the opening with a toothpick.
3. Blend the chillies, shallots, garlic, tumeric & lemon grass together.
4. Heat oil in a wok & fry the blended ingredients till fragrant.
5. Add in the coconut milk, tumeric leaf & asam gelugor.
6. Put in the stuffed squids & salt / sugar to taste.
7. Simmer till the gravy thickens.
8. Ready to serve.

p/s : Some people prepares this dish using the uncooked glutinous rice but I prefer to cook it beforehand. Reason being, you need to cook the squids for a longer time to ensure the glutinous rice is fully cooked & this may results in an overcooked squids.

Tom Kha Gai

Let's take a break for a while from all the so many holiday stories of my KK trip recently. Honestly, there are many more to come...... so, just brace yourself for this few more days, ok.

For today's buka puasa menu, I have prepared this special dish for both me & Marsya. It was a few years ago while I was in Bangkok that I first tasted this soup. It tasted very similar to Tom Yam - it's just that this particular Tom Yam has a coconut milk inside it, which makes it milkier than the normal Tom Yam.

Since it was love at a first taste, I straight away googled for the recipe the moment I'm back in KL. Of all the recipes I've tried, with some minor modification, this has proven to be the best.


Ingredients

400 gm chicken meat
1 cube of chicken stock
1 bulb galanghal, sliced
5 lemon grass, crushed
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn
100 gm straw mushrooms
4 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
3 cups of thin coconut milk
10 bird's eye chillies, bruised


How To

1. Bring to boil the chicken stock along with lemon grass, galanghal & lime leaves.

2. Add the chicken, mushroom, salt, lime juice, fish sauce & sugar.

3. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add the coconut milk & chillies.

5. Bring almost to boil, stirring frequently, then remove from heat.

6. Ready to serve.


Tips : Add other vegetables like cauliflower, carrot, celery & sweet peas for varieties.


There you go. For a change, why not surprise your family with this special soup today. I'm sure they'll be pleasantly satisfied with this surprise menu.

Happy trying !

Egg Paratha Roll

Cooked this for breakfast yesterday. Got the recipe here while blog hopping. A simple yet nice recipe that is worth trying out. The best thing about his recipe is that, not a drop of oil is required - very, very healthy indeed. And the next best thing would be its impressive looks. At a glance, one would thought it as a very complicated dish when it's actually the opposite.

To those mummy who has ran out of ideas for a breakfast menu, here's the answer to your desperation :


Ingredients
5 pcs of frozen paratha (I used Kawan brand)

5 eggs

½ onion, chopped
2 red chillies, chopped

1 spring of spring onion – finely cut
300 ml fresh milk

Salt and pepper to taste

How To :

1. In a bowl beat the eggs with the rest of the ingredients . Mix well and set it aside.

2. Heat the non stick pan over medium heat & cook the parathas (without oil) until lightly brown on both sides. Remove and set it aside.

3. Using the same pan, pour 1/5 of the eggs mixture into the pan & place the cooked paratha on top of the omelet.

4. Let the egg set before turning it over to cook through.

5. Remove and roll up the paratha (like a Swiss Roll) when it's still hot.
6. Do the same to the other two parathas.

6. Cut the paratha about 3/4" thick and serve it with curry.