daging masak hitam

there is absolutely no way to translate the name of this dish in a beautiful manner. seriously. i could go beef in black sauce, or beef in soy sauce, but beef in soy sauce does not even reflect the true nature of this dish. so, let's just call it daging masak hitam. okay?

 

apahal ler lauk ko asyik black je sejak-dua menjak ni temah? entahlah senah...

how shall i describe this dish? it is very delicious. if you guys are familiar with nasi kandar, then you guys will surely know that one of the dishes served, apart from the usual curry, would be the daging hitam. well, this dish taste like thatlah. ejactly. i kid you not. you donch believe? you trylah. okay? and then lemme know.

ready for the recipe? let's go!!

you will need:
(a)
500g beef, sliced thinly
1 tsp cumin powder, mixed with some water*
1 tsp fennel powder, mixed with some water*
2 tbsps cooking oil
5 tbsps dark/thick soy sauce
½ cup tamarind juice
salt to taste
water as much as you need
3 lemongrass, bruised *ouch?*

(b) blend these
10 shallots
3 garlic
1½ inch ginger
15 dried chillies

the how to:
1)  heat oil in wok and saute the lemongrass, (b), the cumin and fennel powder, till fragrant.

2)  add in the sliced beef and a little bit of water. let them be till the beef is tender.

3)  once tender, add in the tamarind juice and the dark soy sauce.

4)  cook and simmer till the gravy becomes thick.

5)  once done, it's ready to serve with hot rice. *yums*

*i didn't have these so, i pounded my fennel and cumin seeds.

okay guys...what are you waiting for? get crackin'!!

come back okay?

recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi by chef hanieliza

kung pao chicken

okay, what is up with me and chinese lately? i don't know. but then again, i do know. i LOVE chinese food. really, i do. i think it must've something to do with the being in a chinese school but not being able to eat the stuff at the canteen thing, you know? you don't? aiyer! nemindlah. well, i made kung pao chicken...i didn't know, prior to research (*ehem* research konon...) that there are actually many many versions of kung pao chicken and that you can kung pao anything you want. squidlah...prawnslah...haaaa....did you know that? why didn't you tell me??? hahaha!! so, now i know.

this is one of my favorites.

no matter where i go and which chinese restaurant i go to, i must kung pao. kung pao, i like.

so, shall we kung pao? oh, before i forget, i got this recipe from yet another blog, kungpaochickenrecipe.org. check out the name of the blog...how can you not have confidence with a name like that, right? it's a blog totally dedicated to kung pao-ing (?) hehehehe...

okay, we shall kung pao now. eh, it rhymeslah...kung pao now...kung pao now...waaahhh...best ni! kung pao...*eh sorry...didn't mean to go all gila over here...kung pao now. how? i tell you how. to kung pao. okay-okay...hahahaha!!

what you need:

15 dried red chilli peppers (use less if you don't want it hot), rinsed

6 chicken thighs, or breast. (up to you. i used breast) cubed, about ½in
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ tbsp minced ginger
3 spring onions (alaahhh...go ahead, go CRAZY, use more!!!) use the white part for cooking and the green for garnishing later on.
½ cup unroasted cashew nuts
1 tbsp of sichuan peppers (optional - i didn't have any, so i tak pakai)

for the marinade:
1½ tbsp Shaoxing Wine (chinese rice wine), i of course did not add this
1 tbsp light soy sauce, didn't have any so i used regular soy sauce
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch, or cornflour

for the sauce:
1 tsp light soy sauce, i used regular soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce, this i have
1½ tbsps sugar
1 tsp corn starch
2 tsps black vinegar, dont have so i used distilled white vinegar
1½ tbsps water
tiny dash of sesame oil

the how to:
1) mix together all ingredients for the marinade. marinade the chicken and set aside.

2)  heat cooking oil in wok, once hot, turn the heat to low and begin to stir fry the cashew nuts till golden brown. remove and drain the oil. *i of course do not need to tell you that if you are using cashews that are already roasted, you do not need to go through this process. i don't need to tell you, right?* :-p

3)  mix together all ingredients for the sauce in a separate bowl.

4)  heat some oil in wok, about 2tbsp, once hot, add in the dried chilli peppers and fry till aromatic. when you can smell the chilli, add in the minced ginger, garlic and the white parts of the spring onions. turn the heat to medium and saute till fragrant.

5)  add the marinated chicken into the wok and turn the heat on to medium-high, stir fry briskly to coat the chicken with the aromatic oil. do this for about 3-5 minutes. next, in goes the fried cashew nuts. turn the heat to high, stir to mix well.

6)  finally, add in the prepared sauce and stir-fry to coat the chicken cubes well. serve hot.

* the only change i would make would be to pre-fry the chicken, coating it with a bit of the egg+flour mixture...so that it has the 'crunch' thing going on, you know? in this particular recipe, while it's very tasty, i didn't quite like the way the chicken turned out.

thank you so much, kungpaochickenrecipe.org for the recipe, i'll definitely try each and every other kung pao recipe in your blog.

OCD much? :-p

tata everyone and enjoy the looooooong weekend!!

stir fry broccoli with prawns

have broccoli will stir fry...with prawns. :-)

it's been a while since i last posted anything food related here. don't get me wrong, i have been cooking AND baking, but the stuff that i cook lately have been pretty basic stuff. something, i think, you guys have done before. so, basically they were not blogworthy *pandai je aku, kan? kecik hati makanan tu seme temahhh...* it's just that, it's after raya, and i dunno...

but, i think i'm getting my mojo back. :-p hence the broccoli and prawns...i know, i know...you guys prolly have it every other day, but i don't, so it's a big deal, okay? okay. *insert insane laughter here*

i took this recipe from here. you know, sometimes you need to see what others have in store for you. sure you have your recipe books but sometimes, these food blogs are a-may-zing!! taste wise, i like it...it has the chinese thing going on, you know? so, ready?

let's go!!

what you'll need:
450-500g broccoli, cut into florets and blanched (oopsie! i didn't blanch them)
200g prawns, shelled and tail intact
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp minced ginger, i sliced mine in thin strips
2 tsp peanut oil, i used EVOO
sea salt to taste, i used MALDON (love love love!!!)

for the sauce:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 ½ cornflour
10 tbsp chicken stock or water, i used water

the how to:
1)  heat oil in wok, cook the garlic, remove the garlic when they are fragrant and golden in colour.

2)  turn the heat on high, cook the prawns briefly and toss in the ginger, garlic and broccoli. stir fry for about 2 minutes.

3)  add in the sauce, bring to a quick boil and season with the sea salt.

4)  the sauce should be thick and the broccoli cooked but still firm. serve immediately.

easy? you betcha!!

recipe source: www.seasaltwithfood.com thank you!!!

the case of the hungry serger

serger darned well ate the back of my pants!! well, not literally, but it did take a chunk (okay, okay i'm exaggerating!) out of the pants that i was trying to sew. *nangeh*

okay, if you look above, i'm sure you can see what happened. i was trying to serge the whole thing when i reached the curved part of the pants, i proceeded to serge and before i knew it, it ate the fabric. apparently, i'm supposed to hold the fabric at a certain angle when serging curvy parts of anything. the left is how it was supposed to turn out (well, after the serger went wild episode, i had to cut and serge another piece) and the right side...oh well...

lunch, anyone? :-p

seafood tom yum

or tomyam makanan laut...

i still haven't gotten my photography mojo and why is my tomyum so pale? but ah, the taste is very nice. *kaverline nampak ko temah???*

it's a week after raya and i think it's still not too late for me to wish you guys 'Selamat Hari Raya' and 'Maaf Zahir dan Batin'...maybe i've said something that has offended you guys or anything and everythinglah...you know, i'm human, you're human and sometimes we do/say things and don't realise that we've hurt the other party. so, with that...please accept my apologies and let's get started with today's recipe.

i took the recipe from the Kelantan book, although, after i've reviewed the recipe, it's exactly how i make tomyum (minus a recipe book) anyways. so, takpelah, since i took it from the book, i will give the credit to the chef. i only made one minor adjustment je.

alrighty then, here's the recipe:

what you need:

2 tbs of tomyum paste*
1 liter water
2 lemongrass, bruised (titikler senahhh)
5 squids, i used 3
7 prawns, i used 10
5 bird's eye chillies, i used 3
1 tomato, cut into 4, or 6 if you want
1 big yellow onion, cut into circles (if you can call it that)
1 carrot, cut prettily :-p
200g cauliflower, i didn't have any so i replaced with baby corns.
a little bit of french beans (yup, you read right, the recipe calls for 'a little bit of')
1 tbs of freshly squeezed lime juice
4 kaffir lime leaves, i didn't have any
salt and sugar to taste
cooking oil

the how to:
1)  heat oil in wok, sweat the onions till they are clear.**

2)  add in the water and all of the ingredients.***

3)  simmer till it starts to boil.

4)  ready to serve.

okaylah, okaylah...maybe i made a 'few' changes...haha! here:

*i didn't have any so i used 1½ tomyum cube. * (ingatkan kalau buku recipe they will teach you how to make the paste from scratch. nan ado)

**the recipe didn't say whether i am to saute the big yellow onion or prepare some other forms of onion for sauteing, so since i like my big onions a bit on the crunchy side, i sliced some shallots and garlic to saute.

***i didn't add 'everything' together and cook, i left out the seafood until the very last minute because i don't like my prawns to be overcooked and my squid to be rubbery, so once the tomyum soup starts to boil, all i did was add in the seafood for just a while.

ta da!! easy peasy. trylah! :-)

recipe source: Panduan Langkah Demi Langkah, Resipi Tradisi Kelantan, by Chef Hafiza.