Shix bakes: crabmeat wholewheat rolls

For breakfast today, Mr R and I had these

You can fill the rolls up with anything you want. Since Mr R wanted crab meat I made him eat it with a wholewheat roll. 

Prep time: 1.5 hr

Baking time: 30 min

Ingredients:

Roll

2 cups bread flour

2 cups wholewheat 

1 sachet (11g) yeast

3 tbsp milk (optional)

400ml tepid water

3 tbsp sugar

1tsp salt

50 ml olive oil

Filling

300g crab meat

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp tartar sauce

1 heaped tsp mustard 

1 tsp pepper

Dash of thyme and basil (I use dried)

Salt to taste

Method:

Filling

Steam the crabmeat. Mix everything up and then you're good. 

Rolls

Dissolve the yeast in the bowl of warm water and let it bloom. In a mixing bowl, put the salt, sugar and flour together and mix well. Slowly add in the milk and yeast+water mixture till it forms a dough. You might need slightly more/less water depending on which part of the world you are in. Knead it well and then add the oil. Work it into the dough. If it gets too sticky, add a bit of flour. It should be tacky and easy enough to work with. Let it rise for two hours. Once the dough's approx twice it's original size, separate the dough into 20 balls. Let it rest for 15 mins before filling it up. Once you've filled the rolls with a filling of your choice, let it rest for 1/2 hr before baking. Bake at 160degC and 30min and you're ready to eat!

Shix cooks: Fried fish soup

Today's rainy day deserves a nice warm soothing meal

Prep time: 1h 10min

Cooking time: 1h 15min 

Warning: prep and cooking times overlap! It only takes a little over an hr to prepare ahahah

Ingredients:

Fried fish

Part 1:

2 pcs White fish fillet cut into bite-sized cubes

2 tsp cornflour

1tsp salt

1 tsp seseme seed oil

1tsp tumeric powder

Part 2:

Oil for frying

2 tbsp cornflour

1 egg

1/4 cup water

Soup

Part 3:

1.5 litres water

1 handful anchovies ground

1 handful soy beans

1 inch ginger bruised

Dash of fish sauce (optional)

Salt to taste 

Optional:

2 tomatoes quartered

2 handfuls leafy greens

Condiment (optional)

Part 4:

1 handful Birdseye chilli 

1/2 cup light soy sauce

To serve:

White rice

Blanched noodles

Method:

1. Mix up part 1 then leave it to marinate in the fridge for an hour. 

2. Put items in part 3 in a pot and leave it to simmer for an hour. 

3. If you like it hot, prepare the chilli condiment by mixing items in part 4 together and leave it to stand for a while. Do not store in a metal container. 

4. Heat up the oil for frying. 

5. Mix up the other ingredients in part 2. Dip the marinated fish into cornflour mixture and fry. 

6. Once the soup has simmered for an hour turn off the flame. 

7. If you want, you can blanch the vegetables in the hot soup. 

8. To serve, put a serving of white rice or rice noodles in a bowl followed by the soup, veges, fish and chilli and it's ready!

Shix cooks: Baked potato with chili con carne

Last night, I made this: 

Baked potato with chili con carne

Prep time: 10 min

Cooking time 1h30min

Ingredients

4 russet potatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves shallots

4 cloves garlic

3 whole red chilli

2tsp cumin

1 capsicum, cubed

300g ground beef

1 can whole tomato

1 can tomato puree

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cayenne pepper powder 

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

2 cups water

Salt to taste

1 can kidney beans, washed and drained. 

4 tbsp grated cheese

Method:

1. Wrap the washed potatoes in foil. Put it in the oven for 1hr at 180degC.

2. Blend the shallot, garlic, chili and cumin into a rough chop. 

3. In a pot, heat up the oil. Throw in the blended stuff and capsicum. Stirfry for abt 15min. 

4. Add in the beef and cook till it browns. 

5. Add in all the tomato, herbs and chili powders.  

6. Add in water and salt to taste. 

7. Simmer for an hour. Be sure to stir once in a while and add in more water if necessary.

8. Sometime in between, potatoes will cook. Take it out to cool slightly. 

9. Mix in beans and let simmer for another 10mins then turn off flame.

10. Dress your potatoes with the chili and cheese then feel free to eat!

Potato alternatives:

- any Indian bread. 

- rice

- tacos

Ps: I made this spicy. Reduce the amt of chili powder to reduce the heat. 

Variation: 

I made the chili more hearty (in my mum's words, "anak banyak" style) by adding chickpeas, mushrooms,carrots and celery and increased the amount of water by 1 cup.

I also made a vegan version, chili sin carne, by omitting the beef and adding on more veges & beans. You can also add more mushrooms to give it more flavour.

Shix bakes: cheesy muffins (but not)

After half a day of preparing resources for next year, I needed a treat and was tempted by DNA's muffins. So what did I do? Bakes these babies

 I know I said muffins but I didn't have any cups. So I baked it in a loaf lan coz I was too lazy to scoop them into my mini muffin silicon tray. Lol. 

So here's how you make this lazy bake

Prep time: less than 10 min

Cooking time: 35 min

1 cup flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1egg

1/2 cup oil or melted butter

1 1/2tbsp sugar 

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups cheese (leave 1/2 cup to dredge on batter)

1. Preheat your oven to 180deg. (You know shit just got serious -seriously easy- when I start the oven first)

2. If you're ysing butter, nuke it now. 

3. Put everything into a bowl and mix it up. Don't over mix. 

4. The end. Ok no not really. Now put the batter in a greased pan and sprinkle the cheese on it. 

5. Bake for about 30 min ( different ovens differ). Check doneness with a toothpick. 

6. EAT!

Note: 

1. Omissions: I omitted the eggs but they're still awesome. 

2. Substitution: I subbed 1 1/2 cup of plain flour with a mix of 1 cup plain and 1/2 cup whole wheat. Product is dense but still flavorful. 

3. Additions: I'm sure adding ham, herbs and cayenne pepper would make it more awesome. I

Shix bakes: Brazilian cheese bread

Today's peckishness resulted in this simple bake. It's quick, it's satisfying and best of all, it's gluten free. 

  

Prep time: 5 mins

Preheat oven: 200 deg

Baking time: 15 min

Ingredients:

1 egg (rm temp)

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated cheese 

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup tapioca flour

Directions:

Dump everything in the blender and whizz. That's all! Bake and eat it all!

Shixcooks : Chicken Biryani

By request, I made biryani for Mr R a few weeks back. 

Other than the saffron basmati first-timer biryani rice (HAHAHAHHAHA), I made a raw pineapple salad (paceri nanas), chicken in a spiced coconut sauce (rendang ayam) and prawn masala. If you're counting, there's an extra dish coz it was leftovers from the day before - nyonya chicken. Room for improvement but not bad I thought! 

Shix cooks: Turmeric Thai-style chicken

I'm trying to come up with something easy and interesting to fill up my leftover pitas so here it is:

Turmeric thai-styled chicken

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 15 min

500g chicken breast, cut into chunks

1 piece Tamarind slice 

4 pieces calamansi/lime leaves

Juice from 4 calamansi 

Finely ground paste:

2 cm ginger

10 cloves shallots

4 cloves garlic 

2 stalks lemongrass

8 birds eye chilli (add more or less depending on how much heat you want)

Oil to fry

Salt

Sugar

Optional: a handful of cherry tomatoes

In a wok, heat up about 2 tbsp of oil and fry the paste. About 3 mins in, add in the tamarind and leaves. Fry till fragrant. Then, add in chicken chunks and continue stirring till it looks cooked. Add in the tomatoes, juice then salt and sugar to taste.  Once you're happy with the product, turn off the heat and you're ready to eat! Serve with rice or pita/tortilla /flat bread

I need to tell you that I got some of the herbs and spices from a community garden! 

Check out my haul:

See you soon!

New recipes

Some recipes I've tried out over the week that could be prepared ahead of time and only took a few minutes to cook. Cleanup was also a breeze. 

1. Pan-fried Lemon chicken

2. Nyonya chicken

3. Orange chicken

Shix Cooks: Easy Peasy Chicken Porridge

Today, Mr R wasn't feeling too well so I decided to make the hearty and comforting Chicken Porridge. What's so awesome about it? I only took 30 mins MAX.

Ingredients:
2 cups rice rinsed
10 cups water
2 cubes chicken stock
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 shallots
1 cm ginger thinly sliced
4 chicken wings
dash of thyme and nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
Use your imagination! Some ideas:
- fried shallot
- sliced spring onion
- sambal belacan
- fried anchovies

Steps:

- Pulverize the onion, garlic and shallots
- Place ALL the items into a pot, cover and cook at medium flame
- Once it boils (abt 20 min), reduce the flame and open the cover slightly to allow steam to escape and water to reduce (abt 10 min)
- While everything is cooking, prepare your garnishes. I used sliced chicken katsu and sambal mangga.
- Then, serve and MAKAN!

Shix Cooks: Lemongrassy Chicken Curry

Today's dish for tomorrow's tapau is a light chicken curry but it's just as tasty 

Ingredients:

 

Set A

1 onion

3 stalks of lemongrass (just the white part)

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 inch garlic

5 red chilli (add more if you want to)

1 tbsp meat curry powder

Set B

1/2 of a whole chicken

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 cup water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tomato quartered

Method:

1. Blend all the items in set A. Stir fry with some oil till it caramelizes. This will take a while. 

2. Marinate chicken with salt and pepper and leave aside in the meantime. 

3. Add in chicken. Mix and cover for 15min. 

4. Add in the other items from set B and cover. Leave to simmer for about 30mins. 

5. Uncover and let the sauce thicken and it's ready to eat!

Suggestion: serve with rice and a side of vegetables. 

Shix cooks: ayam kicap (chicken in spiced soy stew)

I need to learn to take better photos lol

Today, I made ayam kicap berempah

Ingredients:

Set A:

1kg chicken

1tsp turmeric powder 

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

1tbsp cornflour

Set B:

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

2cm ginger

4 dried chillies soaked

1cm turmeric 

1tsp coriander seeds

Set C: 

3cm cinnamon seed

2 Star anise

4 cloves

Others:

4 tbsp sweet soy sauce

2 tbsp tomato sauce

1 cup water

2 potatoes, peeled and sliced to abt 1cm thickness

1 Carrot sliced

6 button Mushrooms quartered

1 tomato, wedged. 

1 tsp each Salt and sugar

Method:

Mix all the items in set A. Deep fry till cooked and set aside

Blend items in Set B. Heat a wok with about 3 tbsp oil and fry paste together with items in Set C till fragrant.

Add in both sauces and mix for about 2 minutes before adding water. Let the mixture come to a boil.

Add in potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. Cover and let simmer  for 15 mins. 

Add in chicken and simmer (do not cover) for another 10 mins. Add in salt and sugar to taste before adding tomatoes. 

Turn off flame and it's ready to eat!

Shix Cooks: Butter Chicken

A simple butter chicken recipe adapted from  http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/45957/chicken-makhani-indian-butter-chicken

Ingredients

Set A

3 tablespoons butter

• 1 tbsp blended shallots
•  1 tbsp blended onion

2cm ginger

• 1/2 tablespoon blended garlic
  Set B
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (I used tandoori powder)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf
  Set C
• 2 cups milk

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper

2 tbsp sugar 

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 500g chicken drumlets
  Set D
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (tandoori powder again)
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
  In a wok, place all items in set A. Fry till fragrant. Then add items in set B and fry for another 5min. Lastly, add in items in Set C and leave it to simmer with a low flame. 
  In another pan, pan fry the drumlets in the oil for another 10 mins. Mix all items in set D together before pouring it into the chicken. Then, add about a cupful of the gravy from the wok and leave the chicken to cook. Do cover. 
  Once chicken is cooked, add it to the gravy and stir before turning off the flame. 
  Optional: throwing in cherry tomatoes and Ming sprigs before turning off the flame. 
  
  It's REALLY good. 

Shix Bakes: Cheese thins

This is my trial batch of cheese thins. Changes will be updated as I go along. 

Ingredients:

500g unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

250g Gouda shredded

250g mature cheddar shredded

800g plain flour

100g corn flour

Pinch of cayenne pepper 

Glaze/topping(optional)

Egg yolk (cut with milk if too thick)

Almond strips/slices

Method: 

Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy. Slowly add in the cheeses. Add in the sieved flours and pepper a little at a time. 

Once mixed, place the super soft dough in cling wrap and roll it into a log. Chill the logs till firm. (About an hour but I left them overnight and alhamdulillah it was fine)

Preheat oven at 150deg

Taking out one log at a time, cut them into 3mm slices and place the slices on a lined/greased baking sheet. (Optional: glaze with egg yellow and place almond on top) Bake for 20 min. 

Note: Cooking time will differ, depending on the size n thickness of the cookie

Shix Bakes: Honey cornflakes

This is strange but I've not made a successful batch of honey cornflake cups for the last decade or so. It was always my kakak's job to do it and she has always been successful in drowning the poor crispies in honey lol... So this year, I decided to google a darned recipe ahahahah.

Alhamdulillah they ended up nice... Mr R even made a short video review on it as I showed it off to my sisters ahahah.

Recipe from
Ingredients:
200g butter
2/3 cups sugar
3 tbsp honey
8 cups (about 200g) cornflakes crushed just a lil bit

Method:

Melt the butter then dissolve the sugar and honey, mixing till it's a lil bit frothy.
Put the cornflakes in a big bown and mix in the concoction above
Bake at 150deg for about 15 mins and you're done.

Feel free to toss in a bit of diced almond into the mix. Definitely will be tasty.

This produced approx 100 small cups of deliciousness.

Shix Cooks: Masak merah

This is my spur of the moment decision to masak merah instead of sweet sour lol. 

It was different. Sour and spicy all at the same time wooooo!

Ingredients:

Set A

1 large onion

2 shallots

4 cloves of garlic

2 cm ginger

4 red chillies 

1 large tomato

Set B

2 tbsp aminah's masak merah powder

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

5  pieces of 3 joint chicken wing

Set C

1/3 of a capsicum diced

1 large tomato wedged

Method: 

Blend the items in set A together till smooth. 

In a wok, put about 3 tbsp of oil. Then, fry A till fragrant. 

Add in the items in set B then fry it some more. 

Once you're satisfied that the rempah/spice paste is nicely fried and has oxidized to a nice deep colour, add in the chicken. Reduce the flame and cover for 15 mins. Add in set C and cover for another 10 mins. 

Taste to make sure there's enough sugar and salt in there. 

Optional: throw in some fresh mint leaves. 

That's it! Prep in less than 10 minutes and cooking for about 40 mins. Serve with a side of plain rice and a raita. Woot!

Shix bakes: orange olive oil cake

This simple orange cake i got from http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2013/07/olive-oil-orange-cake/is super moist and delish. The first of my Eid cakes. 

Ingredients:

4 small mandarin oranges (peeled)

Rind of 2 of the oranges

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

1 Cup Plain Flour

1 Cup Self-rising flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt

4 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Sugar

Method: 

Prep oven at 160deg. 

Blend oranges and rind till slightly chunky before adding the oil. 

In another bowl ready the dry products mixing it evenly

In yet another bowl whisk the eggs till light and fluffy before adding the sugar. Then add the flour and orange mixture into the eggs, alternating between the two. Be careful not to over mix. 

I baked it for about 45 mins then left it there for another hour or so while I went out for Iftar and ran errands thus the dark crust. Remember to take it out sooner if you want it less brown. 

That's it! Easy and alhamdulillah delicious. 

Wadduppp!

Alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah. I'm back after the eons that I was missing for coz of the crazy wedding issues. It's been about 4 months since the wedding. Now we're getting used to the house that we moved I into the night if our wedding..

(It's not exactly what I wanted but we make do)

Some new kitties 

And lots of cooking and baking. 

Updates soon!

Wedding Preparations

Nothing could prepare me for the expenses that I am/will be incurring. It is so painful. But ALHAMDULILLAH, from the grace of God, I've had a great big burden lifted off my shoulders. My mum's paying for the catering and decor, my uncle is paying for the adult door gifts, my aunts are helping me with the decor. A million praises and prayers to Him would not be sufficient in expressing my thanks for the gift of my family. I'm really, really grateful. So when I say that my family consists of many2 people, I guess you understand why...

So here's the list of wedding vendors and things to do

Caterer: FDCS [10.5]

Deco: FDCS (package)

Makeup & Sanding costume: PutriMas [3]

Berkat Adult: Dewi & Soap Wak Jo & Bibik Sponsored

Berkat Kids: Candies x 200 [.2]

Wedding Cake: Bibik

Photography: Reign Rebelpixel [1]

Music: ? [.6]

Invitation: PutriMas [.3]

Dulang Deco: Aunty yati

ring: Lee Hwa in Feb [1]

Sireh dara: own

bunga rampai: own [.3]

Henna: ?

guest book: Cousins!

photobooth: cousins![.4]

shoes: ?? [.3]

Room Deco: [2]

Nikah Countdown!

T=-48 Days

It's been a while like you may have noticed. Many many things have been going on. I've been spending more money then I might be making in this lifetime.

Let's see:

1. House
- Contractor to do up the living, dining, kitchen, master bedroom and toilet area? Checked
- Buying lights for kitchen and recessed lighting? Checked
- Buying built in oven, microwave, hood, hob, sink and tap? All for under $1400? Checked

2. Wedding
- Caterer? Checked
- Deco? Checked
- DJ? Checked
- Buy Ring? Checked

Things I have/will be gifted (In Shaa Allah & Alhamdulillah)

- Simple iron
- tv speakers
- fridge
- tea set
- Berkat
-

To do:
1. House
- Buy lights for bedrooms, living room, dining room and walk way
- Buy storage heater, tv, aircon, fan and washing machine
- Buy bed & bedsheets
- Buy sofa & dining set
- Buy all the small things (kitchen equipment & crockery, cleaning stuff, toiletries accessory)

2. Wedding
- Buy shoes

Alhamdulillah. I thank God the Almighty for easing the path for me. I will not always have it easy but I'm grateful to Him for gifting me the loveliest family and the most wonderful friends and I see that if it wasn't for His Grace, I wouldn't be where I am right now.

Pray for us.

T= -76 Days

Have you heard? Come 23rd march, I'll be rightfully and truly married. The nikah, the reception, EVERYTHING! It's gonna be a great big roller coaster till then but I'm grateful that everything has fallen into place.. Its gonna be hard but I want to work this through.