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

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.

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

sup cendawan

or, oyster mushroom soup.


motif boh gambor sebesar alam kat sini? entah...sker oranglah! kaaan??

you know, there are days when you just want soup. just soup with veg and with a little something else. that's all. i have those kind of days. but then again, i can live with only bread and soup. (aaaahhh....bread, what can you say about bread that hasn't already been said...hahaha..still in my 'i love you, bread' mode, okay?) so, i made this, and it's fabulous and i think you guys should give it a go. yes? yes!

ready? let's go!

ingredients:
(a)
2 packets of oyster mushroom, shredded
1 carrot, cut into small pieces...or you can 'flower' it
100g prawns
2 cups water
1 stalk spring onions
1 stalk chinese celery
2 tbs cooking oil
salt to tase

(b)
3 shallots, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced

the how to:
1) clean all the veg and drain them.

2) heat oil in pot and saute (b) along with the prawns, till fragrant.

3) add in water and salt. let it simmer til it starts to boil.

4) this is when you add in the oyster mushroom and carrots. let it simmer til it starts to boil once again.

5) heat off and garnish with the spring onions and chinese celery.

6) ready to be eaten.

YEAY!!

luck luck you guys!!


recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi.

mihun sup ayam

i nearly cancelled my plans to make this. why? because the robot was not paying attention when i told her to prepare stuff for this recipe. all she heard was the word 'ayam' and assumed that i wanted to make sup ayam or chicken soup.

but, since some of the items needed for this is similar to chicken soup, i decided to go ahead with it.

all i can say about this recipe is that, it needed the extra 'kick' for the umph! factor...mendelah yang aku cakap ni. soooo...we made sambal kicap. which is pounded bird chillies, garlic and then mixed with soya sauce and some lime juice. then, it became sedap! :-)

now, onto the recipe, shall we?

ingredients:
1 packet of mihun or rice vermicelli (soak in warm water till soft then you can either boil in water for 2-3 minutes then drain, or just soak till it's soft enough to be used)
200g chicken, cut into small pieces
100g cabbage, sliced
1 small carrot, sliced thinly
1 tsp freshly ground black peppper
2 liters of water
2 tbs cooking oil
1 stalk each of chinese celery and spring onions, cut
50g fried shallots, bawang goreng
salt to taste

item (b) things to saute
3 shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2" ginger, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
5 cloves
2 cardamom seed

the how to:
1) heat oil in wok and saute (b) till fragrant.

2) add in chicken and carrots. stir.

3) next, add in the cabbage, water, salt and pepper. let it simmer til it starts to boil.

4) once it starts to boil, you can pour the soup into the bowl with the vermicelli.

5) you can then garnish with some fried shallots, the chinese celery and spring onions.

6) bon appetite!

recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi

sup tauhu, or

beancurd or tofu soup.


motif buat sup tauhu tapi bagi gambar carrot dengan celery? haha! maybe because robot took the extra effort to turn our carrot into a bee-yoo-ti-fu frawer. maybe? haha...

i love the simplicity of this soup. it's really simple, really easy to make. i don't think you can go wrong with this. seriously. although the recipe did not call for celery, i decided to add some. (talk about following the recipe exactly, huh?) come on, don't tell me you don't agree? any soup will taste fanstastic with a stalk or two, or more of celery, right? see? you do agree.

here are the pretty simple ingredients needed for this pretty simple BUT delicious soup.
ingredients:
2 pieces of soft tofu, cut into smaller squares
3 eggs, i only added one for my roomate
1 carrot, cut in any shape or design you want
4 potatoes
some chinese celery (the miniature version of celery...hehehe...)
3 onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, also sliced
salt to tast
water as much as you want!

the how to:

1) cut the carrot and potatoes in whatever size and/or shape you desire.

2) saute the shallot and garlic till fragrant.

3) add in the tofu, potatoes, carrot, salt and water. leave it there till it starts to boil.

4) this is when you add in the eggs, one by one.

5) once done, ladle into bowls and garnish with the chinese celery.

i promised you an easy recipe...this is as easy as it gets. :-)

luck luck.

recipe source: 1 hari 1 resipi.