Saturday

Turmeric Rice

If you have ran out of ideas of what kind of rice dishes to cook, turmeric rice would be a good idea. If you are a rice eater and you love nasi lemak, I am sure you will love this one too. You can eat this with chicken or beef rendang top up with some vegetable salad or chutney, and you will know what I mean. Enjoy!




Ingredients
500 gm basmathi rice
4 garlic, chopped
2 big onions, chopped
2 inch ginger, chopped
4 lemon grass, pounded just at the base
coconut milk, just enough to cook the rice
2 screw pine leaves, tied together
salt, to taste
1 tea spoon turmeric powder
3 table spoon butter/oil

Methods
1. In a rice pot, fry the garlic, big onions and ginger until aromatic.

2. Add in the screw pine leaves and lemon grass. Stir well for about a minute.

3. Add the rice, salt, turmeric powder and fry for a few seconds until all ingredients are well mixed.

4. Lastly, add in the coconut milk covering the top of the rice about double the height of the rice in the pot.

5. Cook until the rice is tender and serve with your best rendang or curry.

*serves 4-6 people

Friday

Chilli Curry Crab

It is not often to find fresh crabs nowadays in the market. While prawns and squids are easier to find, crabs will be on sale quite rarely especially in the fresh or wet markets. You can purchase some at the hypermarkets like Tesco or Giant or get frozen sea food, but they might not be as fresh as the ones you get at the wet market. But today is our lucky day as the local grocer put a handful of fresh crabs on sale. So, we took the opportunity to get some and cook a delicious crab curry meal that is finger licking good. Do try!

Ingredients

For marinade
12 crabs, cleaned
3 table spoon flour
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon turmeric

* Mix the crabs with the ingredients above and fry for about two minutes. Toss and keep aside for later use.

For chilli curry paste
1 table spoon kurma powder
1 table spoon chilli powder
1 table spoon coriander powder
1 table spoon cumin powder

*Mix all with some water until it forms a thick paste

Other ingredients
3 garlic, chopped
1 big onion, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
1 fresh tomato, chopped
1 tea spoon sugar
salt, to taste
water, if needed
oil

Methods
1. In a pan, fry the garlic, onion and ginger until aromatic. Add in chopped tomatoes and sugar. Mix well for about three minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.

2. Add in the chilli curry paste and stir well. Let the paste cook for about five minutes or until the paste is separated from the oil. You can add in some water if needed.

3. When the paste has thickened, add in the fried crab and stir for a short while until the crabs are well coated.

4. Serve in a serving plate with some rice.

*serves 4-6 people

Monday

Minced Chicken Savoury Cake (Talam Berlauk Ayam)

I remember having this delicious cake when I was at my secondary school and often wonder how this cake was made. Throughout the years I have been sampling this dish from time to time and got it from some of the breakfast stalls along the road. But as time progresses, it is difficult to get this dish outside unless you make it on your own. What I normally eat is the cake that is cooked with yam, but this one is equally good without the yam. Instead of yam, I substituted it with minced chicken and I am very satisfied with the outcome. Enjoy!




Ingredients

1 cup rice flour
400 ml thick coconut milk
spring onions, finely chopped
coriander leaves, finely chopped
red fresh chillies, thinly sliced
1 cup fried dried shrimps, finely grounded/blended
salt, to taste
150 gm minced chicken

Methods
1. In a cooking pot, blanch the minced chicken with water until cooked. Put aside.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour with coconut milk, salt, chopped spring onions and coriander leaves. Stir well. Add in the cooked minced chicken and stir until all ingredients are mixed well.

3. Heat your steamer, and while it is heated, pour the mixture into a 9 inch baking pan and steam for about 20 minutes.

4. After 20 minutes, take out the lid and sprinkle the blended/grounded fried dried shrimps all over the top.

5. Also sprinkle some chopped spring onions, coriander leaves and sliced red chillies and cook for another half an hour.

6. When the cake is done, let it cool before cutting them into squares before serving.

*serves 10-15 people

Durian Sweet Sauce (Sira Durian)

In my previous post, I have shared how to make durian broth with fish or locally known as gulai tempoyak ikan, and this time I will share with you how to make sweet desserts with durian. It is mild and sweet and is suitable taken with bread, glutinous rice or roti jala. Whenever I make this sira, as it is locally known, I will make double extra so I can put them in the fridge and take them with bread cold, as I prefer it that way. Besides durian sauce, you can also make sweet porridge like green beans or wheat porridge by using the same recipe. Do try!


Ingredients
3-5 durian flesh
1 cup of sugar or as desired
1 cup palm or brown sugar
1 1/2 litre coconut milk
2 screw pine leaves

Methods
1. Put all ingredients in a pot and cook until the sauce thickens. The thickness is up to your liking and when you have achieved your desired thickness, switch off the fire.

2. Serve with some bread, glutinous rice or roti jala.

*serves 6-8 people

Saturday

Asam Pedas Ikan Kerisi

This is one of the popular main dishes in Malaysia besides curries and sambal. Having a slight influence from the Baba and Nyonya cusine, this dish is supposed to be a little bit hot and sour. It uses bunga kantan and daun kesum, two main ingredients that make a good asam pedas. Without these two ingredients, asam pedas will not be perfect. Do try!



Ingredients
2-3 Kerisi Fish
2 big onions, pounded
6 fresh red chillies, pounded
4 lemon grass, pounded
2 bunga kantan, halved
a handful of daun kesum
1 inch belacan or dried shrimp paste, pounded
2 Table spoon dried chilli paste
1 cup tamarind juice
salt, to tase
a pinch of sugar, optional
2-3 cups water
oil

Methods
1. In a pot, pour some oil and add in all pounded ingredients. Stir well until all ingredients turn aromatic.

2. Add in the dried chilli paste and tamarind juice. Add some water to produce a watery broth. Stir well.

3. When the broth is simmering, add in bunga kantan, daun kesum, salt and a pinch of sugar. Wait for 30 seconds before adding in the fish.

4. Cook for another three minutes or until the fish is tender.

5. Serve in a serving plate with a plate of plain rice.

*serves 2-3 people