Instant Lunch

Lately, I have been pretty occupied with house keeping cos I suddenly noticed that my walk-in closet is rapidly turning into a walk-in jumble sale booth if I don't get rid of some old stuffs and shopping isn't fun when your sub-conscious mind tells you that there is no place for new things anymore. So, clearing, packing, delivering has been pretty much what I was doing all week. I guess I finally have a little time on my hands to put up an instant post.

While I was growing up in Penang, fresh food was abundance but I constantly find myself digging my mom's pantry for a packet of instant curry maggi mee. Strange! what msg can do to a person. I am a sucker for maggi mee especially the curry and assam flavoured ones. I guess now you know distinctively which era I am from. Since I had no time to think of what to cook for lunch today, I settled for a heart-warming bowl of modified instant curry mee. Here is how it looks like. I am sure I don't need to teach you food junkies out there how this is cooked! ha! ha! ha!

Notice the chili anchovies? It's actually the left-overs of my ikan bilis cuttlefish sambal from my earlier post.

Sunday Nite In

On Sundays usually after a long day at church, dinner is either eat-out or pack-home. However, once in a while I get bitten by the cooking bug and the next thing you know I have a couple of friends over for Sunday dinner. I can't explain it but I guess cooking is the way I unwind or call it escapism, whatever! Obviously whatever dished out has to be straight forward and hassle-free. I cook whatever I have in the house. I happen to find a big packet of anchovies (ikan bilis) and 2 packets of dried baby cuttlefish. So, a hot and spicy sambal ikan bilis and cuttlefish would be an appetizing dish. This dish has many uses, can be a filling for a bread and butter sandwich, an accompaniment for nasi lemak or just a appetizer for a blend meal. It can be kept in the fridge for a week.

400 gm anchovies (cleaned, peeled and stir fried in some oil till slightly brown and crispy)
60 gm dried cuttlefish (soak in water for 10 minutes, drained)

Blended ingredients
a handful of dried red chilies (pre-soaked in hot water, drained)
5 large red chilies
5 bird-eye chilies
5 cloves of garlic
5 shallots
1 Tbsp roasted belacan

Olive oil
sugar
dark soya sauce
1 Tbsp assam paste (soaked in hot water and drained off the seeds)

Heat oil in wok and put in all blended ingredients, fry till fragrant, add sugar and assam water.

Put in all the pre-fried anchovies and let it simmer till anchovies are soft, adding water when starts to dry.

Add in the cuttlefish, fry for 10 minutes and soya sauce for coloring.

A refreshing baby spinach sautee with garlic compliments the hot and spicy sambal. Another cooling vegetable would be bittergourd (see spicy bittergourd recipe posted earlier).

While I was a growing up, my parents catered food from a nearby food caterer and one of the dishes I always look forward to as a child was the stewed pork patties with potaotes. It never failed to ignite my appetite that's for sure! and since I am on this topic, some other dishes were perut ikan, braised pig trotters in dark soya sauce, ikan pulai and the their curry chicken.

Recipe for stewed pork patties with potatoes.

400 gm minced pork

season with sea salt, soya sauce, da

rk soya sauce, pepper, oyster sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and garlic oil.

Shape into patties, fry with a little olive oil on a non stick pan till slightly brown. Let the patties cool on a plate while you make the sauce.

Peel pototoes and slice into 1 cm thick rounds. Put to boil till cooked. Drained and cool.

Sauce

Heat some garlic oil, oyster sauce and hot water. Bring to simmer and add in 1 large onion (cut into rings).

Put in the pork patties and potatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. Thicken with cornflour.

Roasted Oink! Oink! Belly

Roasted Oink Oink Belly! is actually 'siew yoke'. A very popular roast among Malaysian chinese. I would rate it more sought after than roast leg of lamb or even roast turkey here. This piece of roast is not directly associated with any particular festive season and can be found sold in almost every local chinese coffee shop here. I never thought I would one day attempt to make this myself, the truth is, it's pretty simple. A good piece would have beautiful light crackling skin, not too much fatty streaks and a tasty marinate. When you cut it with a cleaver, the crispy sound it makes is just out of this world. Everytime I have siew yoke at home, I make sure that I have bottles and bottles of chilled cold beer to dunk it in with. Satisfying just plain satisfying!

I remember my grandma (my late father's mother) would have a stout with siew yoke or roasted duck thigh every evening at 4pm. I was about 4 years old then. Radiofusion music piping from her kitchen. Hmm those good old days, not a care in the world!

Get yourself a good piece of pork belly (not too fatty please or else it will turn out too oily, happened to me)

Pat dry the piece of pork belly (8" X 15") with a kitchen towel.

Prick the skin with a sharp paring knife tip and slice slits on the other side of the meat.

Marinate the slited side of the meat with a mixture of 5-Spice powder (from the chinese medical hall) and some sea salt.

Some would encourage you to put it to dry under the sun but I am just too lazy. I just place it under a rotating ceiling fan in my dining for 2 - 3 hours.

Heat oven at 220 degree celsius and pop in the piece of meat drizzled with a little olive oil. Put timer to 20 minutes and turn down to 200 degree celsius after that, checking every 10 - 15 minutes to avoid burning. Baske the meat with its own dripping everytime you check.

Turn the heat down a little if it is too hot but the skin must continue to crackle. If it doesn't, means the oven is not hot enough. Please do not cover the meat with a cover or tin foil throughout the whole roasting process. The roasting time will depend on the size of the meat, how much fat on the meat and the heat of your oven. An average piece like mine would take approximately 1 hour. The meat will shrink a little when completely cooked.

Let the meat rest (cool) for 1/2 hour before chopping it up into bite size pieces with a sharp knife.

Salted Fish Gulai Coming Up!

This recipe brings back precious memories. It was one of my best friends in my work place during the last chapter of my working life who willingly gave me this delicious recipe. She's a town planner in a reputable architectural firm where I still go visit time to time. Working life is comfortable and exciting but being a mommy is most satisfying. Let me not derail from my thoughts, originally this is a basic gulai with salted fish, brinjals, lady fingers and tomatoes. I took the opportunity to modify it just a little to suit my taste.

4 pieces of salted fish head (in place of the whole salted fish pieces)
1 Ma Yaw fish head (cut into chunks)
5 pieces of Ma Yaw fish cutlets

Fish roe (fish eggs)
8 lady fingers (blanche in hot water)
3 round brinjals (cut into quarters)
2 large ripe red tomatoes (cut into quarters)

1 large onion (cut into quarters)
3 Tbsp Burung Nuri fish curry powder
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp assam jawa (soaked in hot water and seeds discarded)

Ingredients to be blended
3 cloves garlic
5 shallots
1 piece of 3" ginger
3 big red chillies
5 small chillies
3 dried chillies (presoaked in hot water)


All the fish, fish roe and salted fish head pieces must be pre-fried in oil and drained.
Pour some olive oil into a heated curry pot. Stir fry all the blended ingredients till fragrant and add in the curry powder and a little sugar.
Put in the salted fish head and fry for another 15 minutes adding assam water and some hot water as it goes.
Simmer for 20 minutes. In goes brinjal, onion and tomatoes and simmer for another 20 minutes till vegetable is soft. Notice I don't add in the lady fingers cos I like it a little raw but if you like it very cooked you can put it in together with the rest of the veggies.
Add in the ma yaw fish and simmer for 10 minutes. Gulai is served. I usually eat 2 plates of rice with this dish.

Kiddies Lunches and Wholesome Dinners

Jamie Oliver did a very noble thing by trying to change the diet of school going children in the United Kingdom. I admire that step he took cos for those of you who have seen that episode, those children are eating junk food, really! and most of them are from pretty wealthy families. Sadly, affordability is not the issue here, mindset and time constrain is.

More and more parents these days are working harder and harder just to provide the best for their children. It's natural to want to be able to give our children the best but often we neglect their basic needs. Food and attention are just as important as a roof over our heads, it builds the child and that's my personal conviction. We can't change the world over night but we definitely can make a difference a day at a time. Once we change our own mindset, we can slowly change the mindset of our younger generation.

The book "The secrets of why french women don't get fat by Michel Montignac" is really inspirational cos it's all about how we want to live our lives. Malaysians overall have pretty unhealthy breakfasts. Someone said to me before that our national breakfast is nasi lemak. Wow! I love nasi lemak but eating it everyday is terribly unwise. Firstly, I believe that we can change all those mindset by instilling proper meals for our children. Kiddies meals are simple, it just need a little creativity and some tender loving care.

I do have the pleasure of serving kiddie meals pretty often. My own and my nieces and nephews drop by very often and I find it a real joy to be able to whip up some tasty snacks or meals when they are around. It's so fulfilling to see them tuck in and licking the gravy off their plates. A little competition is good for the body and soul!

My fall back recipe for a quick meal is beef stew.
300 gm beef shin (uncut)
5 potatoes (peeled and cut into half)
1 big Australian carrot (cut in chunks)
1 big onion (cut into quarters)
3 cloves garlic (smashed)
A handful of fresh peas
100 ml tomato puree

2 Tbsp Mesquite smoke sauce
400 ml beef stock
olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Heat a saucepan with oil, put in the garlic and sear the beef shin till lightly brown. Pour in the tomato puree and add in the stock a little at a time. Simmer for 1 hour on low heat.

Add in the rest of the ingredients except peas and simmer for another 40 minutes. (Checking the tenderness of the beef). Once the beef is soft and tender pour in the peas, cut off the heat 5 minutes later and serve with crunchy toasts.

Another of my recipe is the pork and beans platter. First you'll need a piece of pork fillet (mui yoke) - Sliced thinly and marinate with a little tomato paste, dark soya sauce, sea salt, pepper and sugar for 4 hours in the fridge.

Heat the wok and drizzle some olive oil. Throw in some smashed garlic and 2 sundried tomatoes (cut in streaks). Put in the marinated pork slices and bring to sizzle. Add in 1 big quartered onion and a small can of whole roma tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes. Pour in a can of baked beans and simmer for another 10 minutes. This dish can be served with rice and boiled vegetables like broccoli, french beans or even lady fingers.

Since most of our children do not go to boarding schools, school dinners do not apply. Instead, school lunches or snacks is my priority. Some schools serve a good variety of food but still most of them still can barely pass the basic nutritional requirement. I have seen french fries so yellow in color as if dipped in yellow dye. Fried rice fried with rice ... hardly any meat or veggies. Noodle soup which is actually noodles in msg water. That's the truth and it hurts! Can you imagine your little ones eating this everyday?

I have quite a number of pack lunches ideas to share and one of them is minced meat burger.

Meat used can be pork, beef or even mutton. Just season the minced meat with a little oyster sauce, dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. A drizzle of olive oil in the pan with some chopped garlic, in goes the mince meat. Stir fry for 15 minutes and scoop into a buttered bun with a lettuce leaf. In it goes into the lunch box and off to school. This can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated.

Prawn omelettes are a great source of protein children need for healthy growth. 300 gms of peeled prawns seasoned with cornflour, sugar, sea salt and pepper. Beat 3 large chicken eggs in a bowl. Drizzle some olive oil in a non stick pan and pour in the prawns, stir fry for 5 minutes and in goes the beaten eggs. There you have it! can be served with 2 slices of wholemeal bread, crunchy vegetable or just some tomato sauce.

Good Morning Muffins!

Last night just as I jump into bed, I had this cravings for muffins! Gosh! to get out of bed at that ungodly hour just to make muffins seems most ridiculous. So I decided to crawl out of bed early this morning to whip up a batch to satisfy my desire. Here is the recipe for my muffins. You can make it in a jiffy. It's fast and easy, right on time for breakfast. Muffins have to be eaten straight from the oven served with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and the morning newspapers of course!

375 gm self raising flour (sifted)
75 gm castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
375 ml fresh milk
2 large eggs (slightly beaten)
250 gm pure butter
1 can of sweetened seedless cherries (strained)

Heat oven at 190 degrees celsius. Melt the butter.
Put all the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add in the melted butter, milk and eggs in the centre of the flour mixture and mix them together using a fork. The mixture must be a bit lumpy and batter like.
Scoop the batter into the muffin trays. Only half fill the moulds with batter. Put 3 - 4 cherries into the centre of each mould and top it up with the rest of the batter.
Pop it into the oven for 20 minutes.
Take it out from the oven and cool on the cake trays.

One Plate Meals

I am a great supporter of one-plate lunches and one-plate dinners. I don't have to slave over the kitchen sink washing up plate after plate. One-plate not neccessary mean malnutrition ... nope, nope, nope. In fact, I find it much simpler to balance a meal that way. Eat all on your plate and you're done! It's very much like the main course of a set meal. We have protein, vegetables and carbo all on one plate. I enjoy piecing these food chains together but tonite, I am serving a carboless diet cos earlier today, I had a pasta dish. Another thing I like to do is to Malaysianise my dishes cos I don't really fancy too much butter or cream in my diet. I believe chinese cooking styles are very healthy and sumptous so I always incorporate them in my cooking.

Just like tonite's menu of pan-fry steak, stir-fry watercress shoots and oven roasted pumpkin. For a balance meal you may replace the pumpkin with potatoes, alio olio pasta, french loaf, rice, couscous and etc. Usually, I like my steak marinated with sea salt and black pepper but tonite's marinate is different with a little mesquite smoke sauce, sea salt and black pepper. When dinner is about served, heat up the pan with olive oil and just sear the steak to the way you like it. As for the watercress shoots, just pluck off the shoots from the whole twig of watercress, mince some garlic and stir fry in a pan. Add salt to taste. Roasted pumpkin is simple. Cut pumpkin into wedges, rub a little salt and drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil. Pop it in the oven marked 180 degree celsius for about 30 - 40 minutes. Poke a knife through the pumpkin to check if it is cooked.

As for the watercress stems, I just turn them into watercress soup.

1.5 litre of filtered water

300 gm soup meat (preferrably pork)

6 red dates

2 small pieces of dried cuttlefish

Bring water to boil and add in the dates, cuttlefish and soup meat. Boil for 30 minutes and throw in the watercress and simmer for another 20 minutes. Add salt to taste.