How to Make Chocolate Pudding (Video)

This is one easy way to make delicious chocolate pudding! Do try!

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

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

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

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

Kek Gula Hangus Kukus ( Steamed Caramalised Sugar Cake)

This is one of my favourite cakes. The first time I sampled this cake when I was an undergrad at University Malaya. We had an annual Art Exhibition which got some of my artwork exhibited and one of my colleagues baked this delicious cake for us all. Since then I have always wanted to try to make this cake but as time was flying by, I almost totally forgotten about it until recently when I got the recipe from a friend of mine. This was my first attempt of making this cake and voila! It turned out well! Do try!

Ingredients
1 cup flour
2 tea spoon bicarbonat soda
4 eggs
1 cup condensed milk

Caramalised Sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
2 table spoon butter

Methods
1. Firstly, prepare the caramalised sugar so you can let it cool. In a pan over a medium heat, add the sugar and cook until they turn sticky and brown. Then carefully add in the water and butter. Put aside and let it cool.

2. In a mixing pot, add in the flour and bicarbonat soda. Mix all ingredients well. Put aside.

3. In another bowl, mix the condensed milk with the eggs before adding in the flour mixture little by little.

4. Lastly, add in the cool caramalised sugar and stir well. Transfer the mixture into a baking mold and cover the top with a foil to avoid water drops.

5. Steam in a medium heat for about an hour.

*serves 4-6 people

Malay Style Fish Curry

This is a typical Malay style curry that you can get at any Malay home. We make the curry similar to how the Indians do it with the exception of coconut milk. Whereas the Indians do not put coconut milk in their curry, the Malays do love coconut milk in their curries. But you can also substitute the coconut milk with plain yogurt or evaporated milk or even omit them altogether if you are watching your calories. Do try!


Ingredients
2-3 fish, cleaned ( you can use any fish you like)
3 garlic, sliced thinly
1 inch ginger, sliced thinly
2 big onions, sliced thinly
2 strands of curry leaves
4 table spoon fish curry powder
2 table spoon mixed herbs (halba), optional
2 fresh tomatoes, halved
6-8 ladies fingers/okra
300 ml thick coconut milk
1 cup tamarind juice
salt, to taste

oil
1 cup water

Methods

1. In a pot, pour in some oil and add in the curry leaves for a few seconds before adding the sliced garlic, ginger and big onions. Stir well and cook until golden brown.

2. Add in the mixed herbs, curry powder and tamarind juice. Stir well and you can add in some water to mix all the ingredients.

3. Let the curry mixture cook well until it is separated from the oil.

4. When the oil has been separated from the curry mixture (where you can see some thin layer of oil on top of the curry mixture) add in the ladies fingers and coconut milk.

5. Allow to simmer for about two minutes before adding in the fish. Put some salt to taste.

6. Lastly, add in the fresh tomatoes and cook for another one minute.

7. Serve with plain white rice while still hot.

* serves 2-4 people

Malay Style Apple Salad

One thing that I like about Malay Salad is that it has a lot of varieties and beautiful ingredients that distinguish from one salad to another. Not only you can take the salad with rice and other delicacies, you can also eat the salad on its own. I love many kinds of salad from the banana's heart salad that you mix with coconut milk and other herbs to bean sprouts salad mixed with pounded and roasted coconut. I have here a very simple salad that you can try at home. I am sure you will make even more Malay salads after this! Enjoy!

Ingredients
3 green apples, cut very thinly
2 table spoon dried shrimps, fry in a pan with no oil and pound until smooth
3 lemon grass, sliced very thinly
4-6 bird's eye chillies, cut thinly
4 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thinly
1 big onion, sliced thinly
1 lime juice
salt and sugar,to taste
1 bunga kantan, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon apple cider

Methods

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let it cool in a fridge for a few hours before serving.

*serves 4-6 people

Nyonya Laksa

I have cooked nyonya laksa a few times before. My first encounter with nyonya laksa was when I was in my secondary school. The canteen operator cooked a marvellous creamy and sour laksa that look very much like a thin curry broth. I had no idea that it was nyonya laksa not until I grew a bit older. Some might mistaken it for curry noodles, but they are extremely different in taste and texture even though they use the same puff soybean curd and fish balls to name a few. I got this recipe that I would like to share with you. And trust me, you will be asking for more! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1000 ml coconut milk
½ kg fresh Prawns, remove shell and coarsely chopped
Handful laksa leaves (Daun Kesum), chopped
Handful coriander leaves, chopped
20 Fish Balls
20 Bean Curd Puff
Salt and sugar to taste
prawn stock (optional) or water
oil

To be finely grounded into a paste

20 shallots
1 big onion
6 lemongrass , shreded
10 fresh red chilies, half- seeded
4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 inch galangal, sliced
2 inch fresh Ginger, sliced
½ cup dried Shrimps, soaked in hot water
1 fresh turmeric, sliced
15 candlenuts
Water to blend
2 Tables spoon dried chilli paste, to be mixed in the paste
2 Table spoon coriander powder, to be mixed in the paste

Garnishing Ingredients

2 fish Cakes, blanched and sliced
300 g egg noodles or vermicelli noodles ( I used spaghetti)
30 g prawns, blanched
1 hard boiled egg, halved (optional)
½ kalamansi lime (limau kasturi), for each dish
1 cucumber, finely sliced
Handful of raw bean spouts
Chili based sauce (Sambal) – to taste

Methods

1. Heat oil and fry the paste until fragrant on low heat for 10mins until the oil appears on the surface.

2. Add in the fresh minced prawns. Bring to a simmer, then lower heat.

3. Add in chopped laksa leaves and coriander Leaves. Mix well.

4. Add in coconut milk, and season the broth with salt and sugar. Add in fish balls, bean curd puff and simmer the broth for 20 minutes or until oil appears on the surface.

5. In an individual bowl, put in the noodles and add in the broth. Garnish the laksa with the garnishing.

*serves 4-6 people