Mak's simple vegetable soup

okay, firstly, lemme tell you that the recipe is not from my mum, but it's from the author's mum. hehehe...my aunty gave me this book quite some time ago and this would be the first time i'm trying a recipe from here. i heard that the author and her mum and grandmum are wonderful cooks. so, i'm sure everything will be delicious.

one thing i like about this book is that it is like a story book. apart from recipes, the author shares personal photos of her family and stories that are connected to a particular recipe. i find this really interesting, not only do you learn new recipes, but you also get a piece of history with it. which makes the recipe and the dish itself, something really special.

to kak kama, or puan kamariah jamaludin (i only met her once, at my aunty's house a longggg longggg time ago, she came with a very interesting individual, someone i really, really minat. hehehe) thank you for sharing your recipes and your stories. and to my aunty adek, thank you for getting me this book!

well, what's there to say about this soup apart from it being really simple to make and really, really delicious. it's the kind of soup you'd want to have on your table when you're not feeling too good, just the kind of soup that i be wanting. :-)

ready? let's go!

you'll need:
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 pieces of chicken fillet, sliced or ½ cup shelled small-sized prawns
1 cube chicken stock
vegetable of choice - sawi (mustard greens), green cabbage, cauliflower, carrots
1 tbsp cooking oil

the how to:
1)  heat oil and saute garlic till golden yellow.

2)  add water and sliced chicken or prawns.

3)  keep at boiling stage for about 10-15 minutes.

4)  add chicken stock and stir well.

5)  add in vegetables, do not overcook.

author's mak's tips:

~ another simple vegetable dish that can be prepared real fast. just saute sliced garlic, add some oyster sauce and add lettuce or other types of vegetables. this dish needs to be served piping hot!

see? told ya it was easy.

recipe source:  nostalgia bonda, reminiscing mum's love by kamariah jamaludin

spicy squid

or sotong goreng berempah.

i don't know, when i saw the word 'goreng' (fry) in the recipe, i would imagine frying the squid, which has been coated with spices, in hot oil. but, this is a totally different method. well, we are all about learning something new, right?

my take on this dish is that, it's like a typical nasi kandar squid dish. spicy but not hot. pak aji sukalah ni! hahaha!

wanna give it a go?

let's go!! :-p

you will need:

(a)

500g squid

2 tbs of curry powder, mixed with a little bit of water to make a paste

½ cup of tamarind juice

1 big onion, cut in rings

2 tomatoes, cut into 4

2 tbsp of cooking oil

salt to taste

(b)

things to saute

1 tsp of mixed spices

ginger, about 1", sliced thinly

3 shallots, sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

some curry leaves

the how to:

1)  heat oil in wok and saute (b) till fragrant.

2)  add in the curry paste, stir and let it cook for a bit.

3)  in goes the squid*, tamarind juice and salt. let it simmer for a while.

4)  add in the big onion rings and tomatoes.

5)  ready to serve.

*since i don't like my squid to be all macho and tough due to it being overcooked, so what i did was i waited for the gravy to start boiling, then i added in the onions and tomatoes. once the tomatoes became a little bit soft, then only i added the squid.

luckluck!! :-)))

image of mixed spices taken from: resepisedap-nennie.blogspot.com , thank you!!

recipe source: 1 hari 1 masakan by chef hanieliza

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.

ikan bilis cili hijau

or, anchovies with green chillies.

never thought i would say this...but, i miss blogging. i miss updating this place with new recipes that i have tried and most of all i miss trying out new things. :-(

it's ramadhan now, and that means MrG will go crazy over the ramadhan bazaars. he loves going to e-ve-ry sing-le stall looking at e-ve-ry sing-le items for sale. let's just put it this way, him going to the ramadhan bazaars is like women shopping. nuff said. 

i still cook though, but it's only for sahur and those are really simple stuff, plus i don't think he'd appreciate me taking shots of our early morning food. you know how i get, right? sometimes, i'd have to take 50 shots before i can be satisfied. anyhoo, just thought i'd share this recipe with your guys, it's really simple to make but the only thing i'd change about this recipe is, i'd prolly squeeze in some lime/lemon juice right before serving. call it the ramadhan appetite, but i think it'll taste a tad better with some acidic action going on.

i took the recipe from the sabah book. it's a pretty simple recipe to follow. you can do it with both eyes closed.

okay, here goes the recipe:

you will need:

1 bowl of ikan bilis or dried anchovies

10 green chillies, sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 big onion, sliced

2 shallots, sliced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

cooking oil

the how to:

1)  heat oil in wok and fry the dried anchovies, set aside.

2)  with the same oil (maybe you need to reduce it jusssst a tad) saute the sliced shallots and garlic till they are both a wittle bit on the yellow side.

3)  add in the fried dried anchovies and stir till combined.

4)  add in the salt and sugar to taste, stir till everything is combined.

5)  last but not least, in goes the big onion and sliced green chillies.

6)  stir, stir and stir some more...and it's done.

7)  get a plate of rice and eat away!!

*like i mentioned earlier on, i would definitely add in freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice before serving and i would also opt to not put in the sugar.

why don't you guys give it a go and lemme know.

come by again, aight?

recipe source:  citarasa Malaysia - Sabah by chef Arm

image of the bookcover taken from http://pts.com.my/ terima kaseyyyy!

singgang sotong

nope. i kid you not. this entry is about singgang sotong. and let me tell you, this is the first time i've tasted and made singgang sotong.

i haven't been feeling too good for the past few days...and my appetite is craving for the weirdest i don't know whats...so, yesterday i decided to make singgang. not fish, like the kind i'm used to, but sotong. i took the recipe from chef hanieliza's book, again.

i dunno...maybe it's because i'm used to fish singgang...or maybe it's because i'm not feeling too good, but to me, squid and singgang, just do not go. the taste of the squid was really bland, not like fish when the flesh of the fish sort of absorbs the singgang gravy...i dunno. maybe you guys can give it a try and let me know.

here's the recipe.

ingredients:
500g squid
2 cloves garlic, pounded
2 lemongrass, lightly pounded
2 red chillies, sliced
1 cucumber, cut in strips - i used just a little bit
3 stalks chinese celery, i used only a litle bit for garnishing
2 asam keping, or asam gelugor
½tsp turmeric powder
2 cups water
salt to taste

the how to:
1)  clean the squid and set aside.

2)  in a pot, put everything inside except for the squid and the chinese celery.

3)  let it simmer till it starts to boil.

4)  add in the squid and let it boil once again.

5)  take the pot off the heat and it's ready to serve.

recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi