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!