A heartiest breakfast

A partial american breakfast this morning. This weekends we have open house invitations. There was one yesterday, today we have two. Orang kata empty ur stomach to give room for the food. But I don't want to take the risk, especially for the first event today, when the organiser are expecting 800 people to come. Perghhh...
K la, den nak breakfast.

Ramadhan Day 25: Unwell

Today is the 25th day of Ramadhan. With the Eid @ Hari Raya approaching, am getting lazier to cook. Yesterday, I was down with the flu, I caught the virus from adik, while adik got better. Flu or not, I managed to make a batch of donut. Today, atang is having the flu, the virus has finally infected the whole house. Yaya, ohhh she was the one who started it...huhuhu....anyway.. probably because the change of the weather or maybe the hayfever that came together with Ms Spring.

Ok, I promised myself this should be a short entry. I have one section of writing to complete today, before having a lil nap after zuhr. As I have mentioned in the previous entry, yesterday iftar we had Nasi Kerabu, the first and the last I think, unless akak will cook nasi kerabu for hari raya..huhuhu... No wonder people have been talking and praising the Nasi Kerabu, it was delectable especially the sambal ikan. I would give 4.75 out 5 for the Nasi Kerabu because there was one at pasar malam Tmn Sri Pulai that a bit more delicious. But hey, I need to say that akak Nasi Kerabu is not a full-time pasar malam seller, in fact she only sells Nasi Kerabu during Ramadhan here. And in addition the fact that the one selling at pasar malam Tmn Sri Pulai offered a variety of lauk, with daging bakar, ikan celup tepung, solok lada, hati goreng, telur asin and I usually asked the seller to add more budu and kerabu, definitely overcome Nasi Kerabu Brisbane.

Nasi kerabu yang top di Brisbane

 Burger sambal

For kuih, I made a batch of donut, half I pre-fry and store in the freezer, another half for iftar yesterday. For today iftar.....hmmmm maybe I cook daging masak lemak cili api and roti john for starter. OK... till we meet again, selamat berpuasa dan berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 22: the 1st essay

Today is the 22nd day of Ramadhan. One more week before celebrating the Eid @ Hari Raya. At this stage, I still cultivating my raya mood, because I am still refining my chapters.  I have dateline this Tuesday, maybe after that I can switch to raya mood. But I have two things to look forward to this week. Tomorrow atang wants to have iftar at a nearby mosque. Everyday, there will be someone or a group of people donate some food for iftar at any mosque, musollah (surau) around Brisbane, as far as I am aware of. Before the Ramadhan, the mosque or musollah committee will make announcement about the donation, individual who wishes to donate can contact the committee directly to book a date. Besides the one organised by the Malaysian Student Association (PPMQ), I have never attended any iftar event held at any mosque or musollah. So I did suggested to atang, maybe we could have iftar at any mosque or musollah on weekends, I just want to experience what it's like, plus tasting different type of food prepared by people from different culture (escape masak pun ye gak, huhu). Bila lagi kan, the only opportunity that I may have. It is coincident that one of atang's mate is hosting iftar at a nearby mosque tomorrow and we are invited to come. Alhamdullillah, so InsyaAllah, tomorrow I am off from cooking, yippee.

Another thing that I am looking forward to is Nasi Kerabu, yes, you read it right. This Nasi Kerabu is so popular here, people have been talking about this Nasi Kerabu since we have Bazaar Ramadhan in 2008. It is so popular that you need to pre-order it, coz don't expect you can grab it at the bazaar, orang kata putih mata aje laaa. I recently talked to akak who prepared it, she said normally she would prepare around 80 packs per day, and from that amount only about 5 packs were unreserved, but within a split second that unreserved packs were gone. So I decided I must try this Nasi Kerabu this time, the only chance that I may have, and since this weekend is the last bazaar, I have pre-booked the Nasi Kerabu for this Saturday. Sempat kang I will take pictures, takut kang tak sabar nak makan, dah nak licin baru ingat, huhu. As a summary, I may not have to prepare main dishes for tomorrow and Saturday, prepare some kuih aje nanti, itupun kalau tak membeli kat bazaar. haha

Anyway, what I am going to write today is about an essay written by Yaya. It is one of her school assignment.
The title is,"My journey on a pirate ship". Don't ask me how on earth did she came up with the title, because Yaya herself don't have definite answer to that question. Ok without further ado, I present you Yaya's 1st essay.

My summary: Yaya and her family onboard a pirate ship to get to an island, so that she and her family can enjoy a delicious ice-cream and hot dog. Then we checked in into a hotel that have a spa, swimming pool and a beach. After a day at the beach, we had dinner at night. hahahahhaha.... I was smilling when I read this. I asked yaya, ice-cream and hot dog, bulan puasa nih, fikir makan aje laaa... hmmmm clearly she is like me, think about food all the time. Notice that atang was only mentioned at the end of the story, so bab makan-makan dulu only involved yaya, her sister and her mother. Adeh... another food lover in the family, tapi memang betul pun. Alhamdullillah, yaya is not fussy when it comes to food, but she is not that adventurous like her mama. She will only try something new after I have convince her many times.

Dah lame tak citer pasal our iftar food kan, well nothing to story actually, same old dishes everyday. I don't have time to experiment new thing, not anymore laaa. For yesterday's iftar I cooked maggi goreng. We had fried chickens from Country Chicken two days ago (ala-ala KFC camtu), and have 2 pieces left. So yesterday I cut them to small pieces and add them to the maggi goreng, with telur mata lembu. Fuhhhh...

Today, I think I will cooked chicken tom yam. Tonight I plan to visit my neighbour. She and her family is going back home for raya tomorrow morning. Ada benda nak kirim dari Malaysia nie, my ikan bilis, ikan masin is out of stock. So, that's it friends, till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.
yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 11: Spring has sprung?

Today is the 11th day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah, the weather is hot with mild wind today. I washed a load of clothes yesterday and today, opppsss not literally, the washing machine did that. And thankful for the sunny weather, the clothes dried up quickly. This morning atang and I had a bit of spring cleaning, eh dah spring ka? It is not until September for the spring to arrive, but it is getting warmer nowadays, I no longer have to wear jumper during the day, still need to wear pull-over at night, and still using quilts at night. Well, the kids kicked it away at night, I still pulled the quilts up to my head. I remember last year, somewhere in August, we thought that the winter was over, and it was time for spring cleaning. So I washed the quilt cover, jumper, changed the flannelette sheet, and stored them away. So confident that the winter has gone. And a few days later, it was cold again, end up I had to take out all the things that I had put away. So this year I will wait until spring to come, flowers blooming until I starts storing all the winter garmet. This time would be much easier, will put everything in the packing boxes, for give away and take home.

As I have mentioned in the previous entry, yesterday we went shopping instead of looking for used boxes. We went to DFO just to get new slip-on for my lil princesses. Each of them has a pair of slip-on for raya. For baju raya, hmmm not sure we will get them something new, because they still have several pairs of baju kurung from last year raya, some dresses and new t-shirts, so maybe we will buy when necessary. The shoes because yaya n adik don't have a nice pair of shoes to put on, and that was why we bought them each. Tak mo 'membrazir' (yaya slang of membazir). Although here the celebration boleh tahan juga, with open houses every weekend, tapi takkan sama like celebrating at home. So nak beli yang baru-baru pun macam kurang semangat sikit, plus I will definately busy after the eid, preparing for submission. I am more enthusiast with the submission than the eid preparation. Picture below shows yaya's n adik's raya shoes,

Raya shoes for lil princesses

Yesterday jugak was an election day for Australia. Tak tau pulak sape yang menang semalam. Sorry, malas nak ambil tau. Anyway, about iftar. A day before yesterday, that was Friday, mood malas nak masak tu datang. Actually I have no idea to cook, like I said in the Friday's entry. I was browsing through a few of my fav cyber chefs' blog until I saw encik Mat Gebu's sosej gulung rangup. I had a couple of instant pastry in the freezer, and I used them all, bagus2, habis kan semua, clear the fridge. Sausage puff for Friday's iftar.

Sausage wrap in instant pastry

Yesterday, since it was weekend, I spent my time in the kitchen and made mee kari. Our neighbour came and gave us mee goreng mamak.  

My neighbour's mee goreng mamak (she's penang mari)

For today's iftar, I going to cook nasi ayam, kuih, maybe kuih bakar kot. OK laaa...I need to fill up a form then packing some clothes that I am not going to wear anymore in the box. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana. 

  

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 6:Nervous

Today is the 6th day of Ramadhan. Aaahhhh... so busy and tired today. Had meeting with my sifoo to set the date for my final seminar. Tentatively I will present my findings the first week of October. I feel so nervous right now.With the dateline nearing, have to work more efficiently and effectively. Rabbi yassir wa la tua'ssir.

Ok relaks sekejap. Mesti ramai ngantukkan tengahari nie...Jom layan lawak kartun Lambok nie. Somebody drop this comic in my mailbox. But you have to click on the picture to read. Tak pun pakai kanta pembesar. hehehhe

hahahhahhaha...kena pakai terompah giant tok imam tu...OK now the cooking part. Yesterday, I cooked sambal ikan bilis and fry some of the frozen karipap. Simple aje, cukup la kan...

Sambal ikan bilis tak podeh

Tomorrow, it's a sports day at Yaya's school. I am in dilemma to let her go to school or stay at home. Because she is fasting, though she doesn't involve in any of the activity she needs to be at the field, under the hot sun. I will let atang decides on this.

OK laaa.. time to pack up and go home. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.
yours truly,
 

Ramadhan Day 5: Enthusiasm

Today is the 5th day of Ramadhan. The busy week starts again, need to concentrate more on my writing. Am sooo missing my parents dreadfully, so I need to finish this fast, pronto, rapido.... I can do it!!! I keep chanting this in my heart,"must submit in October, must submit in October, must submit in October". Friends please pray for me ya. Tawakkaltuwallah....

OK, I can't spend a lot of time here, so here a brief. Yaya is at school today, so that leave me with adik at home. Adik as usual la, when nobody else at home except me, she will spend the day watching TV, her fav movie selection or doodling on a piece of paper. Dah lame tak citer pasal adik new words kan. Her recently added to the dictionary is, "Kukumi" haaaa....macam burung cuckoo pulak ye.... What she is trying to say is "excuse me". hahahhahah... nak minta lalu, "kukumi", nak minta attention den jap, "kukumi mama".

So for yesterday iftar, because it was Sunday, so terlebih rajin sikit, I cooked bryani rice, beef kurma and acar darat (Mak' recipe).  Kuih?..hmmm still have leftover donut from a day before yesterday's iftar and cucur udang from the iftar with neighbour makan-makan, so heat them up laa...

Nasi briyani set (Atang's plate)

While Atang had nasi briyani, yaya, adik and me had soto ayam from our neighbour. Thank you neighbour :D.

Soto from neighbour

Weekend masing-masing rajin ke dapur masak macam-macamkan. Weekday, sorry la hehehhe... buka terus makan nasi campur yo, takde kuih-kuih nie :D. If I am lucky, we will have leftover...ahahah punye la malas. Like today, we still have beef kurma from yesterday's iftar, so I think I will cook sambal ikan bilis as add on.

Oh yes...before I forget, the Bazaar Ramadhan organise by the Malay Student Association of Queensland (Persatuan Pelajar Melayu Queensland, PPMQ) has already started since last Saturday. Same like previous years, the Bazaar opens on Saturday and Sunday, from 3 to 5pm, but the location will be announce each week. Last weekend, the Bazaar operated at Guyatt Park. Hope they will still continue at the park, I think it is most convenience for everybody.  Tak sempat lagi nak pergi, actually, we don't know what to buy yet. Tengok la one day I will go down and take some pictures. OK laaa... till we meet again. Selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

p.s. Welcome to new readers and followers to my humble blog. Thank you for reading bebelan ntahapahapantah of mine nih...hehhehe.. For those who want to link or add my blog to your blog roll, please inform me ya, so that I can add you too. Thanks again, happy reading.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 4: Mission accomplished

Today is the 4th day of Ramadhan. Our tamar mission yesterday was accomplished successfully. Alhamdullillah. And if not of the tamar mission, maybe we will never visit the butcher, this one located at Moorooka, one of the suburbs in Brisbane. The price is not much different from the regular butcher we go to. I was delighted with the size of a whole chicken they offer at this butcher. But the service was slow, I waited longer for my turn. I don't like waiting, so I wonder around the shop while waiting for our turn. Luckily they not just selling meat, there are many dry product such as lentils, rice, some biscuits, cordial, and most of the products are imported.

Halal butcher at Moorooka

As promise, here is the picture of the tamar.

The tamar

For iftar yesterday, I made a batch of donut, half I pre-fry and kept in the freezer, another half I fried for iftar. Atang bought Nando's, birthday boy belanja. I was more happier, I didn't have to cook for dinner and sahur.

Iftar day 3 (Big donut, small donut and neighbour's yummy popia)

I called mak last night, before iftar time Malaysia, arghhh sedih la bila dengar Mak n Abah buka puasa berdua aje. Wish that we are there (memang rasa terkilan betul la semalam), and they said the same thing too, adeh, sebak betul. Alhamdullillah, thank you Allah, they are able to perform the fasting. Abah puasa, but he had to skip the first day because of the CT scan. On Monday he will starts the radio therapy, dah tentu tak boleh puasa. Coincidentally my neighbour's dad is sufferring from cancer too, and will undergo radio therapy somewhere next week. Dah macam apa dah sekarang, sana sini dengar kes-kes cancer nie kan. My mother-in-law has completed her second chemo, and on medication, hopefully tak de lagi laaa. She went through two times, because of two different cancer. In June, my uncle passed away because of cancer. Atang's aunty is now on death bed because of throat cancer. Now I have both sides of the family who inherit cancer. Orang kata kemungkinan anak-anak untuk mendapat kanser tinggi. Hmmmm... wallahulam. Semua ketentuan Allah.

And yesterday, my facebook public wall was inundated with news, video recording, pictures of a tragedy that occured at pasar ramadhan at Jasin, Melaka. Al-fatihah to those who passed away (from the news, two people died). I had goosebumps watching the videos. Macam kena angin dari blower aje...... SubhanAllah.

Ok. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan day 2: Day 1 success for Yaya

Today is the second day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah we managed to complete the first day easily, especially yaya. She even helped me in the kitchen, beating eggs for telur dadar and coating the donut with the sugar. She was energetic through out the day, including teasing adik a little too much. Adeh, I tell you they can really get on my nerve sometimes. But I must admit, without them around life won't be meaningful.

Kids spent their 1st day of Ramadhan playing PS

Anyway, back to the Ramadhan story. It was chilly yesterday, the wind was strong and we could hear the wind howling outside. I think that was one reason why we didn't feel like we were fasting. Plus the day is shorter. Lucky for us, so far we experienced fasting during winter and spring. That is the positive part of it, the layback is, we have to get up early, around 4am for sahur if atang is not working. On atang's working day, we have to wake up at 3am for sahur. Just imagine on that wee hour we are eating rice. Hahahahah... well that is the consequence we have to take. Things always run in both ways. If you look around, you will see everything is two-side; up and down, front and back, left and right, etc. Can you tell me anything that is not? Ok..now I am drifting away from the topic.

Today Yaya is at school,hope she will manage another day of fasting. For iftar today, we are having potluck with our closest neighbours, just three families get together for iftar. Meriah sikit, especially for the kids. Each family will prepare some dishes. So I am cooking ayam sambal with bubur jagung today. Yummy.

For yesterday's iftar, I fried some karipap and donut, and cooked ayam padprik (yang tak jadi sangat, boleh dimaafkan sebab puasa..hahahhah) and telur dadar. Alhamdullillah, we also had some cupcakes given by our neighbour. It was her daughter's birthday yesterday. Kat sini kena la buat sendiri cuppies, kalau kat Malaysia boleh main tunjuk-tunjuk aje...heheheheh... but I wonder if I will buy or make the cuppies when I am back in Malaysia? You can save a lot if you make your own batch, tapi yela, time will be the issue then (eh macam la kat sini banyak masa...hahahaha). Pardon my crooked donut, tangan keras, huduh ada, tapi untuk sendiri makan maaa hehhehe...

Kuih for iftar day 1

Although masjid around Brisbane hold iftar and tarawih, but I perform tarawih at home. Ada budak tecit, so solat kat umah aje la. Kalau gi masjid, nanti ganggu jemaah pulak dan solat den tak kusyuk pulak nanti. OK, till next entry, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan day 1: Chilling wind but fair

It is windy now in Brisbane. I am practically shivering while typing this. But the sun is bright. What a wonderful day to start fasting today. Soon the winter will leave and the blooming season will come and visit us, for the last time.

Today is our first day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah, almost half of the day has pass by. Yaya is doing OK. I woke her up for sahur at 4.30am. Fasting started at 5.00 (5 minutes before Fajr). Alhamdullillah she didn't give any trouble waking up and having sahur. We had rice. Dah biasa makan nasi for sahur. We don't mind breaking fast with anything else, but for sahur, we must have nasi, otherwise by half of the day, perut pun mula berbunyi. Hopefully Yaya able to fast the whole day today. Luckily she has no school today. The school is close because of Ekka, kinda agricultural and industrial exhibition held annually in Brisbane. Macam ekspo pertanian kat Malaysia tu. But tomorrow the school opens, I wonder how she will be tomorrow.

OK, nie citer pasal adik pulak. Adik nie kan susah nak cerai puting, tapi semenjak dua menjak nie, dia terlupa sikit akan best bud dia. Wah...ini petanda baik. Tapi semua nie berlaku ada sebabnya tau..... Tengok exhibit 1 dan 2 di bawah.

Puting yang rompong

Puting rompong dari pandang sudut lain

Iyeeee, itu la sebab utama adik mula reject puting nie...yang telah rompong tu. Macam kena gigit tikus. Itu pun dia masih nak hisap jugak. Nak beli baru, tak nak den, kang ntah bila dia nak let go. Gigi pun dah mula terjungkit ke depan. Kite tengok sampai bila adik nak hisap puting dia nie, sama ada adik yang reject dulu, atau puting tu memang dah tak boleh di selamatkan lagi.

OK for those who are wondering about abah (eh ada ke?) hehhehe... mmmm... starting Monday abah will undergo radiation therapy for 10 days, 2 days break in between. From the recent CT scan, the cancer has spread to the spleen and liver. It is about time for abah to start chemo, but most probably after raya. Sedih la jugak, tapi ini semua ketentuan Allah. Den pasrah. I only hope I have the chance to look after abah, hope nothing bad will happen with us still here. OK...tak nak fikir negative. Kita bertawakkal pada Allah.

So what to cook for iftar ya. I already took out chicken breast from the freezer, maybe chicken padprik and telur dadar. And will fry some of the frozen karipap I made last weekend.

Karipap frozen (tapi sebelum di frozen kan)

Ok, I still have 2 hours left to work on the chapter, until the iftar preparation. Breaking-fast time today is at 5.25pm. Until tomorrow, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

 

Frozen karipap

Am now making a batch of karipap to be frozen, getting ready for ramadhan. Sib baik ada acuan karipap.

You make my life easy la...thank you thank you

You know what, I just found out about this instant Mee Udang paste from a friend. One day we had dinner bidan terjun (kira unplanned dinner laaa) at her home, and the host n hostess served us mee udang. Wow.. it was so tasty, but a little bit hot, so not for kids (unless your kids can stand it). So one day, I bought the paste at one of asian store in Inala. My friend recommended the mee kari and sambal udang paste as well.

And one fine but lazy day, I took out the saucepan, pour in an amount of water, mixed in the mee udang paste, prepare the noodle, some boiled eggs, lettuce and cucumber for 3 (of course not for adik laaa), and hey presto!! mee udang for dinner. It took me about 1/2 an hour to prepare, from the kitchen to the table.

Fuh... sedap!!!

Next time I will try the mee kari paste. Need to buy some more of this paste, people say be prepare for the rainy day, I say, be prepare for the lazy day...hahahhahah

And today I baked banana, raisin and cinamon cake for tomorrow. There's gonna be a small feast host by the Malay Student Association, so got makan-makan and potluck. It has been awhile since the organiser held makan-makan and meet up event. Chance to meet new friends and catching up with your old friends. So, happy weekend ya.

p.s. I sense my writing is getting boring, too monotonous....aiyah...

yours truly,

Busy busy pun dapur den totap berasap

Iyo...gitu la kironya citer kali nie... sangat-sangat busy akhir-akhirnya...nak jadi penglipur lara pun tak sempat...jangankan nak jadi...nak karang ayat pun tak gheti dah... takpo takpo...mana yang penting kita dulukan..yo tak...

Busy busy pun...den totap kona masak gak...la nie dah sebati dah...dah jadi sebahagian rutin seharian... Dah lamo den tak lotak gamba makanan yo... sebelum masuk bulan Ramadhan nie...baik den tayang dulu...huhu...

Cucur udang....first time buat dia jadi kembang kembung naik camtu....nie resepi jiran den...mokasih la yo turunkan resepi kat den...hehehhehhe....puas makan...tapi perut cepat sebu laaa..sobab lotak bi-carb-soda...tapi pastinya puas bila makan...alhamdullillah

Nasi goreng Pattaya....pun first time buat...siap ikut style tukang masak kat restoran, terlangkupkan pinggan atas nasi tu...lepas tu terbalikkan flat pan...ahahahha...

Nie den saje bolah..kasi nampak isi....

Haa yang nie den tak masak laaa.... choc paling best kat anak tokak den....sini harga dia AD1.10.... murah betul.... tapi kalau makan, boleh naik jerawat..... dah tuo2 pun ado jerawat lagi....hahahhahah

Malam nie den tak masak, banyak left-over dlm peti sojuk den .... perhangatkan yo malam nie...bagus2..malam nie jugak den nak rehat.... rehat betul2...layan anak2... besok tgk balik paper nak submit hari isnin... harap2 laaa dapat publish satu lagi paper....

OK..happy weekend you all....


p.s. terima kasih yo wish birthday utk abah den :D

yours truly,

kisah HD... biasa biasa aje

kong kong kong.... tu la bunyi yang dominasi rumah skrang nih....bunyi ape tu?? bunyi batuk den haaa... makin menjadi-jadi pulak... skrang tengah berpantang, pantang kupi, pantang benda manis....dan yg paling semua orang kat rumah nie suke....pantang bersuara .... errrkkk...bukan banyak cakap...tapi kurangkan bercakap....

ok..dah lame tak citer pasal makanan...food food food .... heheheheh... actually mood masak dah ilang, ntah lesap ke mana, maybe buried under piles of papers on this table. sebarang request untuk makan itu dan ini tidak lagi dilayan serta merta, semua perlu dipertimbangkan. teruk teruk... nak menulis dalam english pun ilang macam tu aje... maybe I have spent hours of writing, the brain refuse to spell out in english... orang kata drain out....orang kata..bukan den....hahahahah

ok... tak mau citer panjang... nie kisah HD....Hot Dog.... issshhhh itu pun nak citer kan...hahahahah....sorry, saje nak citer, nie la kali pertama den buat HD... dulu tak jumpe frankfurter nie, manjang la beli BBQ sausage, bila dah jumpe.... dah tak nak beli BBQ sausage. tapi tak bleh lawan la sosej Ayamas dan Ramly.

jadi satu ari...den buat la HD nie haaa...

"bang... hotdog biasa 3, spesel 1. kasi letak bawang aaa... kasi goreng sikit itu bawang aaa"...cheh...berangan order hotdog kat warung tepi jalan pulak

yang spesel tu den sorang punye...yg lain makan biasa aje.... siap curly fries tu....

lepas gian nak makan HD warung...


yours truly,

Teringin nak makan kuih yang hijau tu

Tetiba aje teringat kat kuih warna hijau, manis-manis, rasa telur. Haaaah...betul la tu....kuih bakar. Selalu kalau ada kenduri kat rumah mak, mesti mak order kuih bakar kat sorang aunty nih. Sedap, wangi, dengan kerak gula, mmg asli, bakar pun guna sabut kelapa. Tapi makan kena jaga-jaga, sangat-sangat manis.

Bila dah teringin kat sini, apa lagi option yang ada kan. Buat sendiri laaa. Thanks to Mamafami for the recipe.

Den copy n paste aje la ye.

KUIH BAKAR

Source : http://mamafami.blogspot.com/2009/06/kuih-bakar.html

Original recipe : Salt N Turmeric

Ingredients :

2/3 cup sugar (I reduced to 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup pandan juice or (1 teaspoon pandan paste + 1/2 cup water)
3/4 to 1 cup flour
400 ml coconut milk (1 1/2 cwn santan)
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon butter
toasted sesame seeds

Method :

1. Pre heat oven to 180 C (360 F)
2. Blend all the above ingredients, except sesame seeds, in a blender.
3. Butter the pan and pour the mixture into it.
4. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Method tu yg paling best...dump everything into a blender. And press the button. Bakar. Sejukkan. Potong-potong dan ...bismillah... :D


yours truly,

The day I have to grill the chicken

It is officially autumn. Sejuk-sejuk nie, best meals to cook and eat are steamy soups or anything with black pepper in it. I prefer clear soup than white soup, rasa lagi authentic with the rempah and onion taste.Soups or broath will surely keep us warm in this chilly weather.

So one day, I thought of preparing chicken soup for dinner. I know kids will love it, but not atang. Although chicken is atang's fav, he still has a few dishes that I need his permission to cook. Bukan ape, kang penat2 masak tgk atang makan tak berselera, kita pun hilang selera. Although he will eat it, tapi tak beria-ia laaa...And as expected, when I told him that I wanted to cook chicken soup for dinner, he said,"Ala....", but then he said, " masak laaa...atang makan je..." ahahhahah... talk about reverse psychology kan. Sape nak masak camtu, although teringin sangat nak makan nasi panas-panas dengan sup ayam yg pekat.

Anyway, since I have chicken drumsticks and wings in the freezer, nak masak sup pun macam kureng sikit kan (pujuk diri sendiri), but best for grilling. So I immediately googled for recipe. And this recipe caught my attention:

Ayam bakar mayonis

source : http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/115

Bahan-bahan:

8 ketul drumstick

1 sudu besar mayonis

1 kiub ayam
1 sudu besar kicap manis
1 sudu besar sos tiram
Lada hitam secukupnya-tumbuk
2 ulas bawang putih-tumbuk
1/2cm halia-tumbuk

Cara-cara:
1.Perap dengan semua bahan-bahan di atas dalam 1/2 jam. Kemudian bakar. Lagi lama perap, lagi sedap. 

For a balance diet, I prepared cold salad and baked some potato together with the chicken. The kids loved it, atang tak payah citer la kan..he practically beaming, "sedap nie yang..." Well, I am happy when they are happy :D (tapi satu hari den nak masak jugak sup ayam pekat...tak kira hehehehe).

 

yours truly,

Nasi ayam cendawan ala-ala claypot

Sempat try resepi baru hujung minggu baru nie. Takde claypot, jadi masak nasi dan lauk asing-asing. Masak nasi macam biasa, cume ganti air dengan stok ayam (bancuh satu kiub stok ayam knorr dengan air cukup2 untuk masak nasi). Lepas tu hidangkan lauk ayam dengan nasi panas-panas....sodap.... hehehe

Nasi Ayam Cendawan (claypot)
sumber: http://www.myresipi.com/top/detail/4490

Bahan-bahan ( 3-4 orang makan ):
1 cawan beras
1 1/2 air rebusan ayam
500gm ayam (potong kecik2)
1 sudu besar lada hitam (tumbuk)
1 sudu besar kicap pekat
5 atau lebih kuntum cendawan hitam- (rendam hingga kembang dgn air panas) - (den pakai cendawan  
         shitake)
2 sudu besar sos tiram
1 sudu besar kicap pekat manis
Minyak untuk menumis dan 1 sudu besar tepung jagung (bancuh dgn sedikit air )
2cm halia dan 2 ulas garlic (tumbuk)

Sedikit hirisan daun sup, daun bawang, bawang goreng dan sedikit minyak bijan

Cara-cara:
Perap ayam dengan bawang putih, halia, kicap pekat & manis, sos tiram, lada hitam dan cendawan. Panaskan minyak dan tumis ayam yg diperap hingga masak dan tuang air bancuhan tepung jagung.
Setelah pekat, perisakan dengan garam, ketepikan.
Panaskan claypot (refer glossary), masukkan beras dan air rebusan ayam, biarkan nasi masak. Pastu perlahan kan api dan tuangkan ayam tadi kat atas nasi dan taburkan smua daun, bawang goreng dan percikkan minyak bijan..

p.s. dah siap2 buat cili potong dengan kicap, tapi lupa pulak nak hidang...dan abis makan baru teringat, patut la rasa kureng aje masa makan. tapi apa-apa pun licin...hehehhehe

yours truly,

A melancholy story

This year is our last year in Brisbane. Though we are looking forward to come home for good, but deep down we feel sad to leave our current home, the place, the city that we have resided for 3 years. 3 as a number sounds small, but when we decompose it into the number of months in a year, the number of weeks in a month, the number of days in a week, the hours in a day, the minutes in an hour, the second in a minute and so forth, it feels like you have been here for such a long time.

But am not referring to the duration as something that we want to leave behind or resentment, but looking at the value in it. There are so many things happened either to me, atang and the family as the whole unit. So many challenges that we have faced, so many fond and bitter memories that we will always cherished (well at least to me, because I am the sentimental type) and so many decisions we have to make in order to survive in this foreign land. Although we have been here for 3 years, I still feel it strange, and nothing close to my heart accept the place where I was born. Like the popular Malay saying, "Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, baik lagi negeri sendiri."

One of the greatest challenge that I have to face is cooking. Before I came here, cooking is something that I treat as a task. Honestly, I started to cook after I got married. Before that I only help in the kitchen. Ok ok..I should make this straight. Before I got married I know how to cook nasi goreng,mee goreng, ikan goreng, ayam goreng and simple dishes. Tu tak kira laaa...hahahahahha.... What I am referring to is, cooking the complete meals for your own family. Even when I got married, whenever I don't feel like cooking, well, it's not a big decision to make. It is in fact an option and can easily substitute with other choice like for instead buying/tapau (how I miss saying this word) food, eat out (eh sama laaa), eating at your siblings homes and calling mak in the weekend and ask her "what's cooking mom?"....ahahhahah...... ok...over emphasis. But it is true. So when we came here, it is the most difficult obstacle that I have to face. What I don't like most is to plan what I want/need to cook for the whole week (well at least), because we can only do shopping on weekend, plus can only buy chicken and meat at only a few halal butchers around Brisbane. Buying things in a large amount, squeezing them into the freezer, hopefully it will covers for two weeks meals. Plus it tested my planning and management skill. Yes...am not a spontaneous person. I must plan what I want to do even for just for a few hours. I hate impromptu things.

Anyway, back to the cooking issue. Here, I have no choice but to cook. My first year here is worst, because at that time we didn't explore much, and didn't know that there are a lot of halal places around Brisbane. The only places or food that we frequent are Kebab outlets. Nasib baik kebab kat sini sedap, so we did enjoy eating them, eventhough on every weekend. So I have to improve my cooking skill to satisfy the craving of the family (ok...I admit my craving). I am lucky that looking for recipes is now as easy as A, B, C. I would like to say thank you for all the people who shared their recipes on the web. Gradually, cooking has become an obsession...ok that is too strong word, ahahhaha...it downgrade the purpose I am here....hmmm.... ok let me rephrase. Gradually, cooking has become a hobby. I enjoy cooking (oowww suddenly the word reminds me of my research). Once a resentment has became a pleasure. Moreover, cooking is a stress reliever. And searching for recipes has become a favourite past-time activity (though sometime I browse during my working hour). I should extend my gratitude to my family for putting up to all this, although I know sometimes it was not that good hahahahha... because without them I will never improve my cooking skill. Kadang-kadang terasa untuk pencen dan jadi suri di rumah sepenuh masa aje...ahahahahha... is that possible? Maybe not in near future laaa... someday...hmmm... I have an aunt who once wanted to do the same thing, quit her job and open a nasi lemak stall. Her ayam goreng rempah is to die for. I wonder when she will finally do it.

OK laaa...dah panjang sangat nih. Bila ada mood nak nulis/merepek kat sini, ini la jadinya...

To add to my recipe collection, I tried making Roti John weeks ago. After browsing and researching here and there (cooking is a research too tau), I came up with my version of Roti John (basically I referred to MamaFami's fotopages, and improvised a bit). For those who is not familiar with Roti John, it is a bun fried in omelette sometimes filled with meat or sardines and is a popular pasar malam (hawker) food in Malaysia.
My Roti John recipe:

Ingredients:
Brown onion, diced
Minced meat/chicken/mash sardines
Ground black pepper

White pepper

A little bit of cooking oil
Salt to taste
Eggs (1 egg = 1 bun, so the number of eggs is equal to the number of buns u use)
Hot dog/burger buns
Mayo, ketchup or chilli sauce
Some slice cucumber

Method:
1. In a non stick pan, saute the onion with a little bit of oil.
2. Add the minced meat, ground black pepper and fry until cook. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat.
3. Cut the buns into half (but don't cut through, leave the two half still intact).
4. Beat the eggs in a bowl, season with salt and white pepper. Then add the meat mixture.
5. Heat the pan. The pan should have a little bit of oil left from the frying, if not put a little bit of oil. Then scoop a ladle of the egg+meat mixture and pour it on the pan, evenly spread it to the shape of the bun.
6. Then press the two half of a bun on top the mixture. Leave it until the egg+meat mixture is cooked.
7. Flip the bun to brown the other side of the bun for, just for seconds. Then remove the bun from the pan.
8. Arrange some slice cucumber and squeeze some mayo, ketchup/chilli sauce.
9. Cut into half....and.... makan laaa...


p.s. I wonder how Roti John get its name? By whom, why and how..ahahahhahha...am so curious


yours truly,