English Muffins

Early this morning (approx. 2 or 3 am) while everyone was occupied with their work, I snucked out and into the kitchen to make these..

Took the recipe from Zack, made half the recipe and got 6 of them. Just nice =)
So after some sleep, we had these with sausages I shaped flat and eggs to fit in the between the muffins which I cut into half and toast them in the toaster and layer a piece of cheese. YUM!

Spiral CurryPuffs

I remember helping my aunt twisting the sides of curry puffs till my thumb hurts so bad for 2 days =( More reason to skip school!
She made hundreds of them and she'd call me to help her on school holidays. I was probably 9 when she taught me to do this the traditional way.

I suppose that's the last time I ever touched an uncooked curry puff waiting to be 'twisted' =p

Today my beloved fiance mentioned about making them. Not that he knows how to but the way he talks about them, intrigued me to making them again (good strategy, huh)

And here they are.


finished version waiting to be deep fried

I've never tried making curry puffs from scratch. I only know how to twist them. So my first attempt turned out horrendous! The oil was too hot, later I learned. As if the basic is not a disaster enough for me, I tried my hands on making the spiral types. And it turned just right!

Many, many thanks to people whom put step by step pictures online =) =) I've searched too many websites to include them all in here (and to remember, actually) =P Sorryy..


time to tuck in!

To Mamafami, actually my beloved Khairul did the fillings for these puffs. (Yep, unfortunately he has good hands in cooking! =D ) Here's how he did the filling his way:

250g minced meat
1 potato, cubed small pieces
1 small carrot, cubed small pieces
1 tsp cIli boh, to saute (omit if you can't handle heat, or just put a small amount, as the curry paste is already hot)
1 onion, cubed
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 curry leaf
1 tbsp curry powder
sugar to taste
salt and pepper to taste
bit of water if the potato and carrot takes a while to cook

Marinate the mince with curry powder while preparing other ingredients.
Saute the cili boh with oil, add onions til soft, then add garlic.
Throw in curry leaves and mince til half brown, add in potatoes and carrots and bit of water enough to cook the carrot and potato.
Leave filling to dry on medium heat but keep an eye on it. Add bit of sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

*I personally love Worcesterchire sauce, so I may add some to the marinade but it won't taste traditional, eh =)

Mashed Potatoes with Parsley

One of the simpliest dish I've learned to make since living on my own.



Mashed potatoes.

Simple ingredients:
Potatoes, cubed and boiled soft with salt
Milk
Butter
Salt and Pepper

I added parsley to give it a different look and taste. Leftovers? Can be used to make Shepherd's Pie or potato bread. OR even better, cover leftovers bowl with cling wrap and microwave it the next day! =)

Homemade Pita Bread

There's some gravy from the fish head curry we had last night. It was honestly too good to throw them away. So I purposely woke up early to make these and eat with the leftovers.

Red Beans filled Donuts/Buns

Phew!

At last, the second attempt at making these sweet filling donuts turned to success!
Following Zack's advise, these sweet "pau goreng" as my fiance and my friends here calls them are very very filling. I barely could finish my dinner after having few of these late afternoon =)

So here's how mine turned out to be =D



From the success of last night's red beans filling (the one fiance altered) we ended up having extra red beans mash so I gathered my confidence to try again on Zack's recipe and wallah!! As mom always say, never give up =D I up-ed the liquid amount little by little to almost 200mls, and man, was I so worried the dough would end up in the bin. But as advised, I continued kneading (though the dough started to stick everywhere on our kitchen counter) and kneading and in the end, I got myself an almost soft dough. It wasn't as soft as other bread doughs I tried making before but enough to shape them and fill them well =) So as usual, the filling was not enough so I filled the remaining 4 balls with sugar, and the other remaining 3 dough with honey (fiance loves the honey they produce here) Well the honey filled actually leaked out after the second proofing =p As for the rest of the balls, here they are..



filled with red beans!! Yum! Thanks Zack!!

Blueberry Jam Steamed Buns

Oh me oh my.. my bomb-sized steamed buns! =)

I got the recipe from Mamafami, while they were nice, round and honestly, I thought my paper cutting as the base were too large, but once they get into the steamer, they rose so much that my first batch almost burst out and as if the steamer basket were not big enough!! Well let alone the paper, they almost couldn't be seen anymore =D !

These are what homemade baking are all about, I've always only eaten pau bought from stalls or bakery shops back in Msia but today, was definitely an eye-opener =)



There were red kidney beans leftovers from making chilli corn carne the other day and I was running out of ideas what to make, I've not gathered enough confidence yet for a second attempt to Zack's red beans filled donuts so darling fiance suggested "steamed buns"! Searched for a simple recipe and found it! So I gathered all the ingredients and started combining and kneading and filling, only to find halfway through, my filling was not enough oops!! There are some dried red beans so I quickly boil them accordingly and in the midst of everything, the beans were still hard and couldn't be prepared! Annoyed, I searched the fridge in the hope of finding some "kaya" (hell, there's no kaya available in Aust but crossed my fingers anyway) and what do you know? I found some blueberry jam which has not been so famous lately.

And here they are.. blueberry jam filled pau!



Yummy eh?

Nutty Coffee Scrolls

I have to say, I should have taken a picture of them before they were baked to show you all how hillariously funny my scrolls turned out! They were cute and petite, nicely cut into scrolls just to fit the muffin cups, then once they went into the oven, they huffed and puffed and turned HUGE !!

Anyway, the best part is their taste. Not too sweet with a coffee-ish twist to them and crunch of nuts on top. Took this recipe from Zack's webpage (which also has no name to it, so I creatively create a name for your creation, Zack hope you don't mind) So here's how mine went!

Yummy!


Thank you dear Zack for the lovely recipe =)

Thai Beef Dumplings Soup

Jacket Potatoes with Chilli Corn Carne

This is what we had for dinner tonight. Jacket potatoes with chilli corn carne. I've been meaning to try this out and had actually saved some chuck steak for the chilli corn carne so since my fiance didn't go to work today, I tried my hands on making these.

It was actually pretty easy. Just takes a bit of time to roast the potatoes and make the corn carne.

Complete Homemade Burger

Found a burger bun recipe but my buns didn't turn out as I hoped for *grunts* Oh well, but that didn't stop me from making burgers for dinner =)



I made everything from scratch from the buns to the burger to the mushroom sauce. Here's how I did it.

Minced meat
Onions, finely diced
Worcestershire sauce
Breadcrumbs
Fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Almost all recipes I looked for calls for an egg in the mixture but I omitted it and added a bit extra breadcrumbs. The shape held just fine =)

As for the mushroom sauce, just garlic and thick cream. Then rocket leaves and a piece of cheese! Because my buns were small so I made mini burgers and it reminded me of Son of Mac (a smaller version of Big Mac they are offering at MacDonalds here) =D

Cheese and Herbs Buns

Cheese and Herbs buns anyone..?


..baking in the oven!


done!

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese topping

I have been meaning to try this a looooong time ago and this I must say, is the shortest table life-span in this house, ever! Aida came over to get some recipes and proof read her lab report. It's been ages since I last touched or read a lab report and it was not fun but I remember how difficult it was so proof-reading it for her was nothing compared to actually doing it.

It's Anzac day so I made coconut rice (nasi lemak) with sambal kerang and some vegetables for lunch.

And then comes..


..yummylicious!

They were warm from the oven hence beautiful to have :cloud9: Frankly, it's not difficult to make. Just needs a little bit of patience and time. Oh and good quality fresh ingredients. I thought of having these for snack tomorrow night after my session but seeing how fast it disappeared from the table, was even more delightful!



So it's the end of holidays and tonnes of assignments and work awaits! Time to wake up now =)

Thai Beef Salad

Tried a dough recipe from Zack's fotopage. Didn't turn out well. Second time, still not as well. Tired from figuring what I did wrong with the dough, I made a simple beef salad dinner for us. I've saved a piece of rump steak to make this salad from one of my food mag.



The ingredients:
chinese cabbage (wombok)
carrots
tomatoes
1 chilli
lemongrass
red onion and garlic

And that's it! =) Simple eh? As for the dressing, some fish sauce, sugar and one lime (juiced). Season the steak (salt, pepper, olive oil) and throw it on your grill till medium then rest 5 mins and slice it up. Toss everything around and there you have a nice refreshing salad ;-)

Sweet Sour Fish and Tangy Squid Salad

These days we were always onto chicken or beef. So today we went to the market (again..!) and got ourselves a whole fish and some squids. I had browsed through some Asian recipes and decided to give ikan tiga rasa (sweet sour fish) and kerabu sotong (squid salad) a try.


..and wallah!

We bought perch fish, and the recipe is very very very easy. Fiance said it tastes better than the sweet sour fish we had in M'sia. Well, that means this recipe is a winner and for keep then! Thanks Kak Liza!

As for the kerabu sotong, is another very simple dish. When a recipe is easy and simple, trust the words from us students =)

Garlic, Feta and Herbs Pull-apart

please excuse the burnt top!


soft and pillowy..

Today I made this lovely pull-apart bread. Curious to know how it looks (the mag only has one small lousy pic of it =p ) and taste like, I decided to give it a try. And here's how it turned out!



I must admit, it does take a while to make this bread. The fiance almost gave up waiting but the end result was YUM!


..warm and buttery..

Well, for me it's definitely satisfying to see the end product doesn't end up in the trash bin nor take days to finish it. Sometimes it's not enough for some people, eh? =)

Chicken Tonight!

We bought haloumi cheese to give it a try tonight. People here almost always have grilled haloumi on the side of their barbequed dishes. It is rubbery when cut but once grilled, the outside stayed crisp and inside goo-ey and cheesy. Yum.

I found these 2 chicken recipes a while ago. I like this Rosemary and Lemon chicken..



while my fiance prefers this Balsamic and Herbs number (mind the burn) :P



Both were delightful. A rich and tangy taste from his while a mild and light version from mine. While the griller is hot and nice, I grilled some leftovers carrots, capsicums and cherry tomatoes from the bbq night and added some basil leaves to my salad dressing (olive oil, lemon and parsley). Then the grilled haloumi and roast potatoes. Perfect =)

Focaccia Bread

Boredom filled in. So here's Focaccia Bread my first try at making bread =) which then I made into several sandwiches including scrambled egg sandwich and cherry tomatoes with melted mozarella cheese. Frankly, this bread suits savoury fillings. I tried with cream cheese and decided I prefer savoury fillings. Next time, I'll roll out and rest the dough a bit longer to get a thicker and softer bread. Yum!

Kung Pao Chicken

Okay, honestly.. in the midst of excitement to see how this dish turns out, we forgot to take picture of the final product =p but here are pictures of it in the making =)


rice cooking, dip chicken in batter (cornflour n seasoning), fry!


the fried pieces of chicken


dried chillies, garlic and onions




sauce in the making!

Beef Skewers ans Strawberry Jalousie

We arranged for the BBQ set to be available for us Friday night. So friday night comes and here's what we made!

Dear finace marinated the chunk beef and made beef skewers with capsicums, onions and cherry tomatoes. I wanted to add haloumi but we couldn't find any good ones today at the market. Those cherry tomatoes were so juicy and sweet!



I on the other hand made a dessert. It's called Strawberry Jalousie. I've never heard of it either but it turned out delish! One was not enough so I made it twice yet still people had to fight over the last piece! It was crispy on the outside and the strawberries oozed out when cut. Yummy!

Vanilla Custard and Strawberry Scroll

As the fiance decided not to go work today, I woke up and made these scrolls! The recipe called for passionfruits but since we couldn't find a fresh one at the market yesterday, plus with the overflowing strawberries in the fridge, I made a change to strawberry scrolls instead. And here's how it turned out!

Frankly, I should have added sugar to the dough but I figured at the time that the custard and strawberry icing would have made it super sweet. My bad. Nevertheless, they were all gone by midnight =P

Chicken Soup and Strawberry Pudding

I realize we both enjoy cooking together on weekends when we have nothing to do. So today since it's a public holiday and most shops/groceries are closed, we decided to make something for dinner. He made chicken soup, which I had mine with some udon noodles that were on sale today, and he had his by its own. We ended swapping and he finished mine instead =p

With lots of strawberries in the fridge from handpicking them at the farm the other day, I decided to try french pudding. It turned out allright but although the recipe calls for brown sugar, I think using castor sugar would have made the strawberries looked nicer =) Nevertheless, the pudding didn't even last 5 hours on the table. All gone!

Fettucine Meatballs with Tomatoes and Herbs pasta

This is a new creation by me which perhaps have been created by some Italians long time ago hehe but nevertheless, I have no idea what I'm doing until it turned up to be this!

But it was tasteful and colorful. I added my own kitchen herb grown basil and tomatoes to it and it was scrumptious! Of course, the fiance absolutely loves it too!