Otak otak telur ikan

Ingredients:
6 shallots
4 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 stalk lemongrass
2 tbsp ground chilli
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp coriander seeds
250g grated coconut
3 tbsp coconut paste
Salt to taste

400g fish roe
1 tbsp tamarind paste (optional)

Banana leaf (optional)

Method:
1. In a bowl, mix the tamarind paste with 1/2 cup water and soak the roe for abt 10 min to remove the fishy smell. Then drain off the water.
2. Put all other ingredients in the food processor and ground to a smooth paste.
3. Add in the fish roe. Mix well to break the egg sac and ensure the eggs and paste are well incorporated.
4. Line a hot pan with banana leaves and place enough roe mixture till it is abt 1cm thick.
5. Place another leaf on the mixture and cover the pan. Bring the fire down to low.
6. After 5 min (or the leaf has some char), turn it over and cook for another 3 min.
7. Repeat till all the paste is cooked.

Alternatives:
1. If you dont have banana leaves, use pandan or just plain baking paper.
2. You can choose to broil it in the oven instead of on the stove.

Mussels with creamy dill sauce

Ingredients:
500g Mussels
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp dill cut fine
Salt and pepper

Method:
1. Clean the mussels
2. In a pot, melt butter then add onion. Stir till wilted.
3. Add the dill and fry for a few min
4. Add the stock and cream and stir till incorporated.
5. Add mussels. Steam for 5 to 10 min. Add sat and pepper to taste.

Shell Out: the seafood craze

In a deep pot, boil aromatics in a sufficinet amount of water

2" ginger, bruised

2 bay leaves

4 lime leaves

1 tumeric leaf

Once boiling, add the crabs:

2 crabs (whole) 

After 8 to 10 min, add:

500g prawns

About 400g mussels (cleaned)

Cook for another 5 to 8 min and separate seafood from stock. Reserve 1 to 2 cups of stock and keep the rest (its delish!)

In a separate pot:

Boiling Water

Salt

2 corn

1 broccoli 

Put the corn in first and the broccoli after 10 min. Drain once cooked.

In a wok, fry the following:

100g butter (melted)

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 yellow onion, sliced,

1" ginger, sliced

2 tbsp each of chilli, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper powder (inc or dec as desired)

1 

2 tbsp oyster sauce

Optional: lime and coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Once it tastes about right, add a cup (or 2 if you prefer ir soupier) of stock. Bring to a rolling boil and add veg and the seafood (if you want to use squid, add it here as well). Stir well and we are done! 

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Ingredients
50g butter
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic sliced
1 small carrot sliced
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin
3 roasted peppers*
1 cube chicken stock
2 tbsp parsley chopped
2 cups water
80ml heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Special Equipment: (immersion) blender

Method:
1. In a pot, melt butter. Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry till wilted.
2. Add the spices and veg, fry for a few minutes before adding the stock and water. Let it simmer till the carrots soften.
3. Bring the soup off the heat. Then, blend the soup.
4. Put the pot back on low heat then add the cream. Once incorporated, turn off the heat. Add salt and pepper as needed. Eat!


*Note: you can buy roaster peppers at abt $8 per bottle which has 1 to 2 peppers or spend about 45 min making them.
1. Preheat the oven at 200deg
2. Place some olive oil and salt on the pepper.
3. Bake the peppers for 30 min. Turn the pepper in 10 min intervals.
4. Once the peppers are charred, cover the pan with aluminium foil for 10 min.
5. Once slightly cooled, peel off the skin.

Cheesy garlic swirls

I got inspired to do this by DNA. Recipe looks easy enough and it turned out awesome. I've been playing around with this recipe and made awesome variations lol.

Ingredients for basic dough

300g bread flour
100g plain flour
30g sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
250 ml milk
30g butter

Method:

The queen of efficiency (thats me) says dump everything but the butter into a mixer, let it do its thing for 10min before adding the butter and letting it mix for another 5.

Leave it to rise for 1 hr.

Filling:
50g softened butter (add pinch of salt of using unsalted)
1 tsp dried/fresh parsley or chives or spring onion (make sure pieces are small n dry)
2 garlic, mashed
1 tbsp parmesan or any dry cheese

Mix everything up.

Once dough has risen, roll it out to abt 1cm thickness, spread the filling before rolling it (think swiss roll) and cutting it up into 3 cm pieces. You can arrange the pieces into any pan or into muffin cups.

Let it rise for another 15 min while you preheat the oven at 160C and bake.

Cheesy garlic swirls

I got inspired to do this by DNA. Recipe looks easy enough and it turned out awesome. I've been playing around with this recipe and made awesome variations lol.

Ingredients for basic dough

300g bread flour
100g plain flour
30g sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
250 ml milk
30g butter

Method:

The queen of efficiency (thats me) says dump everything but the butter into a mixer, let it do its thing for 10min before adding the butter and letting it mix for another 5.

Leave it to rise for 1 hr.

Filling:
50g softened butter (add pinch of salt of using unsalted)
1 tsp dried/fresh parsley or chives or spring onion (make sure pieces are small n dry)
2 garlic, mashed
1 tbsp parmesan or any dry cheese

Mix everything up.

Once dough has risen, roll it out to abt 1cm thickness, spread the filling before rolling it (think swiss roll) and cutting it up into 3 cm pieces. You can arrange the pieces into any pan or into muffin cups.

Let it rise for another 15 min while you preheat the oven at 160C and bake.

Wak Eton's Roti Jala / Roti Kirai with chicken curry

Roti Kirai/ Roti Jala is  a comforting staple. Beautiful and soft latticed pancakes. Theyre awesome.

Wak eton (my mum's eldest sister with her angelic cooking hands) does it like this:

Ingredients:
500g flour
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
Pinch of tumeric powder
2 tsp salt (to taste)
Water as needed
Oil to cook

Equipment:
Flat pan/gridle
Roti jala scoop
Fish slice

Throw all this in a food processor and let it do the hard work. It should have the consistency of pancake batter. Once its ready, grease the pan, use the scoop/bottle to form a lattice (google it yo!) And once cooked, fold it in eighths and youre good to go.

Traditionally, we have this with curry. This is my aunt's curry

200g shallots (ground)
7 cloves garlic (ground)
1 inch ginger (ground)
1 tsp each cardamom, star anise and cloves
1 stick cinnamon
2 stalks curry leaves
4 tbsp curry powder
500g chicken
3 potatoes
2 carrot
3 tomatoes
1 bunch coriander leaves/stem
200ml yoghurt
500ml water
Salt
Oil

1. Grind the shallots, garlic and ginger to a smooth paste.
2. Mix the paste with the curry powder.
3. Add the chicken into this paste for at least 30 min while you prep the rest of the stuff
4. Peel and quarter the potatoes and carrots
5. In a large pot, heat the oil.
6. Add the cardamom, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fry at low heat till fragrant. Be careful not to burn!
7. Add the curry leaves before adding the chicken. Mix constantly to make sure you dont burn it!
8. Once the chicken is 3/4 cooked and the spices are fragrant, add in salt, water and vegetables and let it simmer. Do stir occassionally.
9. Once the gravy has thickened, add the yoghurt and coriander. Mix thoroughly and thats it!

Tom Yam Pasta

Ingredients:

500g pasta (boiled al dente in salted water, reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid)
3 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
10 medium sized prawns
300ml whipping cream (if youre using thickened cream, use 200ml of that and 100ml milk)
1 cube tom yam stock
2 eggs (whisked)
A dash of thyme and nutmeg powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley for garnish

Directions:
Heat oil, brown garlic and add prawns.
Once prawns are cooked, add the cream, tom yam, thyme and nutmeg and bring to a gentle boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Turn off the heat before whisking in the eggs.
Toss the pasta into the prepped sauce. Add water to loosen the sauce if necessary.
When serving, sprinkle a bit of parsely.
Done!

I cooked everything in 20 mins and should be enough for 5.

Mango-avo salsa

This salsa is easy, light and delish.

2 large tomatoes or two handfuls of cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup diced capsicum (i used red and green)
1 medium sized mango (peeled cored and diced)
1 ripe avocado diced
1 small red onion
Optional: 2 serrano peppers (sliced thinly)
A bunch of coriander leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything up and leave the flavours to mingle in the fridge. Top it over baked chicked on eat it as a dip. Done!

Crispy sweet potato fries

Sweet potatoes, cut into match sticks, patted dry before being sprinkled with oil salt and pepper. Thats all you need for these snack!

Cheese pizzas

So Ive discovered that the easiest and softest pizza doughs only need these:

300g bread flour
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
5g yeast
Warm water (amount depends on where you are)
3tbsp olive oil

You simply put everything but the oil in and knead for 10 min. Add the oil last and knead for another 5 min and leave it to rise. Thats all! An hour later, dough is ready. Ive used this to make dinner rolls, bread sticks, pizza balls...

Bake at 220C for 15 min

Shixcooks: Beef Hor Fan

I'm supposed to go to my cousin's for a girls' night in but decided to cook something for the hubs so he will have something for dinner and this was the planned dish. It's fast, easy and super cheap too.

Prep time: 5mins
Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Beef Marinade:
400g beef sliced thinly
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ginger juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Charred noodle:
3 tbsp oil
500g kway teow noodle
1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Gravy:
5 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2 cups beef stock
2 cups mustard greens (sawi)
3 stalks spring onions
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp corn flour
1/2 cup water
Pinch of salt and pepper
Oil

Method:

1. In a bowl, marinade the beef with the ingredients above and leave it until it's needed (abt 10 min)

2. Heat up the oil in a wok and char the noodles. Once it's lightly golden brown, mix the soy sauce thoroughly. Put that aside.

3. In the same wok place abt 3 tbsp oil. Once heated, fry up the beef till it's almost cooked. Once that's done, put that aside.

4. Heat up another 2 tbsp oil and fry the garlic and ginger. Add in the oyster sauce, greens and spring onions.  Once slightly wilted,  add the beef stock and wait for it to boil. Once that's done, mix up the water and flour and add it in. Add salt and pepper to taste and you're done!

Within 20 mins you should be eating this beautiful and delicious noodles.

Shixcooks: Kangkong Sambal

Kangkong Sambal

Kangkong or water spinach is a very South-east Asian thing. Elsewhere it's apparently a weed haha. I've cooked this as a side dish to my nasi lemak. I've stir fried it with a sambal belacan type of paste. The sweet salty and spicy taste balances very well

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:

• 500g kangkong
• 4 cloves shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp belacan or 1 tbsp dried shrimp
• 2 tbsp ground chilli
• 2 cubes ikan bilis
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce
• sugar and salt to taste
• oil for frying

Method:

• Ground the shallot, garlic, chilli, belacan. ikan bilis together but ensure it's still got a bit of texture. Don't want it to be too fine. 
• Cut up the kangkong till they're about 2 inches in length. Discard the last 4 inches from the root.
• In a wok, heat up the oil. Place the ground ingredients and fry till fragrant.
• Once that's all cooked, add the oyster sauce then kangkong. Add some water if it's too dry
• Add salt and sugar if necessary and youre done
• Eat it!

Shixcooks: Ikan Bakar Sambal Cincalok (Grilled Fish)

Ikan Bakar Sambal Cincalok 

(Grilled Fish with Fermented shrimp chili)

Don't run! It tastes nicer than it sounds! What is cincalok? It's this pungent and salty goodness that is OPTIONAL in this dish. hahaha.

But I'm not kidding. It tastes really good. My husband who HATES fish. I mean HATE! He loved this. Even asked for more after eating 2 portions.. That's how I know I can cook it again.

Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 1h

Ingredients:

1. 8 portions of fish (You can use any fish. This sambal begs you to eat it with fish.)

2. 14 cloves shallots
3. 8 cloves garlic
4. 2 inch ginger
5. Fresh tumeric or 1 tbsp tumeric powder
6. 1 inch galangal
7. Juice from1 lemon or 6 calamansi
8. 6 tbsp groud chili
9. 10 pcs lime leaf
10. 5 pcs tumeric leaf
11. A bunch of mint leaves
12. Banana leaf and foil (in a pinch, baking paper works)
13. 3 tbsp cincalok  (fermented shrimp paste - don't be deceived, this salty pungent thing is quite delicious) - optional
14. 2 fresh tomatoes
15. 2 tbsp tomato paste or 10 tbsp tomato ketchup
14. 1/2 cup oil (eyeball this)
15. Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok
2. Ground items 2-6. Spoon the paste into the wok (I counted mine as 12) and fry till fragrant
3. Add in the fresh tomatoes and ground chili (always half the amount of onion paste mixture. Less or more, depending in your tolerance level for heat) and fry till fragrant. At this point, the oil should be rising from the chili mixture.
4. Take a tumeric leaf and 2 lime leaves, cut off the middle stem and slice them thinly. Add them into the mixture.
5. Add in the sugar, cincalok or salt and ketchup.
6. Lastly, add in the juice to taste and turn off the flame.
7. While the chili is cooling, prepare the banana leaves by wiping them clean, cutting them into the right size to wrap the fish in and heat the leaves over an open flame until they become pliable. (Kinda what you do to a tortilla before you roll it up) If you don't have banana leaf, just use foil. If you don't have foil, on baking paper. If you don't have any of them, just use a casserole dish.
8. Separate and cut the mint, lime and tumeric leaves into 8 portions
9. On your banana leaf (or aluminium foil/baking paper/ casserole dish) place the tumeric leaf, 1 tbsp chili we made, fish portion, 1/2 tbsp chili, lime then mint. Then close the banana leaf (use toothpics to secure the end) and wrap it with foil. Repeat until you finish all the fish.
10. Bake it in the oven at 190degC for 30 mins

Shixcooks: Nasi Lemak (Savoury Rice)

So today my sister wanted Nasi Lemak (savoury rice) as her welcome back meal so I made these sides to go with this versatile meal.

Coconut rice (not pictured)

Prep time: 5mins
Cook time 30 mins
Special Equipment: rice cooker

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of rice
• 2.5 cups of water
• 3 tbsp coconut cream/milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 inch ginger 
• 3 cloves garlic 
• 4 tbsp oil (some prefer margarine or butter)

Method: 

1. Wash the rice in a pot and once done add in the water.
2. Add in the oil, coconut cream and salt and mix well
3. Bruise the garlic and ginger and add into the pot. Bury them well so that they perfume the rice.
4. Let it cook.

Note: Being a rice eater, my rice is cooked in the rice cooker. If you don't have one, cook it in the pot at medium heat until water boils then cover and use extremely low heat under water dries up.
At this point, mix it and turn off the flame and leave the steam to do the work for the next 15 min

Rice Variation

Garlic and ginger are used here as aromatics. This is the way mu mum does it. There are other variations that people normally use which are written below:

1. Omit the ginger and garlic and use 3 pandan leaves instead. Wash them and tie into a knot before adding them in step 3. (Most common)

2. If you would like green rice, replace the ginger and garlic with 5 pieces of pandan leaf. Grind the Pandan leaf into a paste, sieve out the paste to remove the fibres and let the rice be coloured and fragrances by the juice collected.

3. Omit the garlic and use 2 sticks of lemongrass instead.

Side Dishes

I've cooked the rice with grilled fish and kangkong belacan. Usually, it's cooked with other proteins and vegetables like:

1. Fried yellowstriped scad/trevally

2. Omelette

3. sliced cucumber

4. fried peanuts

5. fried dried anchovies

6. Sweet sambal

7. Otak-otak (grilled spiced fish paste)

8. Fried chicken

9. Fishballs

10. Sausages

Do try out these recipes. It's really easy and cheap too!

Cereal chicken

The husband requested for cereal chicken todqy and because I have an enormous can of nestum cereal from the last time he had a yen for cereal prawns,I obliged haha

Ingredients:

A )Fried chicken

500g boneless chicken cut into chunks
2 heaped tbsp flour
1 tsp tumeric powder
3 tsp garlic
1 inch ginger
1 egg white
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

B) Cereal Mix

2 tbsp butter
2 egg yellows
1 egg white
4 chili padi (sliced)
4 stalks curry leaves
8 tbsp nestum cereal
Sugar and salt to taste

Duration: 30 min

Equipment:
Mortar and pestle, Deep fryer and wok

Method:

A) Fried chicken

- using a mortar and pestle, ground the garlic and ginger
- mix the other ingredients together and leave the chicken to marinade for 30 min
- fry the chicken in hot oil and put it aside once it's done

B) cereal mix

- melt the butter in a wok
- fry the egg yellow followed by the egg white in the melted butter. Be sure to scramble it out.
- add in the chili and curry and fry till it's fragrant
- add salt and sugar to taste before turning down the flame
- add in the cereal and fry till it's lightly toasted
- lastly, add in the chicken till it's heated through

Done! Now it's ready to makan!

Shix cooks: chicken prawn dumplings

Ingredients:

Filling:

400g Minced chicken

15 medium shrimp cleaned and chopped

1 bunch coriander leaves chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopper

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp seseme seed oil

1 tbsp cider vinegar

Some salt and white pepper

1 pkt dumpling skins. 

Method:

Mix everything for the filling together then let it sit for 30 min. Then, use the wantan wraps to make your dumplings! You can either steam them before eating or make a basic soup and dump them in. Make sure you cook the dumplings through. 

Recipe from http://rasamalaysia.com/steamed-dumplings-recipe/2/

Shixcooks: Mussels 2

Quick 15 min cooking 

400g mussels (soaked in salt water for 15 mins then cleaned)

5 shallots

50 g butter 

1 tsp tarragon

1 lemon 

A splash of cider vinegar

A cup of water

Method:

In a pot, add everything except the lemon. Cover and let it cook for 5 min. squeeze in the lemon juice and let it cook for another 5-7 min. That's all!

Shix cooks: eid specials

Serves 20

A. Spiced rice

Ingredients: 

6 cups basmati rice

3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

2 tbsp blended shallots

1tsp garam masala

3cm cinnamon stick

2 cloves

2 cardamom

2 star anise

1 tbsp salt

Yellow colouring

6 cups water

Garnish:

Fried shallots

Coriander leaves

Method:

1. Soak rice overnight. Drain just before cooking. 

2. In a large pan, melt ghee before adding all the spices. 

3. Once fragrant, add in rice and salt. 

4. Once all the rice has been coated with oil, if you are cooking in the rice cooker, at this point, add in 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil before transferring it into the rice cooker and add 4 more cups of water and cook. If you are cooking on the  stove, add 6 cups of water and bring it tu a boil before covering the pot and let it cook at a low flame. In the middle of cooking, after about 10 min, add 4 drops of colouring to the wet rice. This will give it a nice rich yellow colour. Once cooked, garnish with coriander leaves and fried shallots. 

B. pineapple salsa

Ingredients:

1 honey pineapple quartered and sliced

1/2 green capsicum

1 red chili

1 shallot

Method:

Chop up the shallot and chillis into small chunks and mix it up with the pineapple. Leave it a container (preferably made of glass) overnight.

C. Chicken in spiced tomato gravy

Ingredients:

2kg chicken

400g shallots

6 garlic

4cm ginger

1 cinnamon stick (abt 6cm)

2 cloves

2 cardamom

2 star anise

1 handful dried chili

2 tbsp tomato purée

1/2 can tomato

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp yoghurt

2 bunches mint

1/2 cup oil

Method:

1. Blend the shallots garlic and ginger. 

2. Heat up oil and fry 12 tbsp of the blended mixture. 

3. Add all the spices

4. Blend the chili and add in 6 tbsp of the mixture 

5. Once fragrant, add the tomatoes and fry further till fragrant. 

6. Add the sugar and salt till the flavour is to your liking

7. Add the chicken and cover till cooked. 

8. Add yoghurt and mint and mix well just before turning off the flame. 

D. Lentil curry

Ingredients 

Part (i)

2kg lamb ribs

1 white onion (quartered)

4 inch ginger (sliced)

Part (ii)

500g shallots (ground)

6 garlic (ground)

5 inches ginger (ground)

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

2 cardamom

2 star anise

2 cups lentils (soak for at least 2 hours)

3 stalks curry leaf

6 tbsp dalca curry powder

300g eggplant 

2 carrots 

4 potatoes

300g long beans

6 whole tomatoes 

Salt to taste 

Lots of water

Oil

Method:

In a pot, put (i) then add water till it covers the meat. Boil with low heat for at least 5 hours. Refil water as needed. Once the meat falls off the bone you know it's ready. 

In a separate large pot, put enough oil to fry the onion/garlic/ginger mixture. Once fragrant, add the spices and fry for a few minutes. Then, add curry leaves and curry powder. Fry till fragrant then add the lentils, meat and stock and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste then add vegetables. Boil at low flame for about an hour for the flavour. It's best to be cooked a day in advance to develop it's flavour. 

That's it!

As long as you plan in advance, it will all be done within 4 hours (not including cooking the ribs).

Soft sponge cake

This fluffy lovely is done in 15 min. Here goes:

3 large eggs

200g optima flour 

50ml milk

1tsp vanilla essence

50g melted butter

Preheat oven to 170C (yes kids this is gonna be a quick one). In a mixing bowl, add everything except the butter. Mix at high speed for about 10 min. Then, fold in the cooled melted butter. But it all in a cake tray and bake for approx 20min. 

Varieties:

I marbled the cake by separating the mixture into 2 then adding 1tbsp chocolate emulco into one half before pouring in the batter in an alternating fashion. You can change chocolate to any berry purée. That's it!