jemari hijau - edisi limau nipis

First harvest. Annnddd hoping for many more to come :D

They have gotten big, perhaps too back-breaking for the tree to endure anymore. I have been procrastinating to find something to support. Sampai ke sudah he he.

Our harvest. Funnily and weirdly yellowish as opposed to the normal green. My brother said it's due to lacking of fertilizer. These thrive nonetheless albeit the tired look.

Adam immediately requested for iced-lime thirst quencher once we got into the house. And i made this detox drink for me to savor today.

different, but not less

I have a special child. Therefore I am a special mother. 

That’s what I always like to remind myself. 

Iman, celebrated his 9th birthday last month, on the 3rd. We were at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. 

Ehem *clearing his throat obviously trying to get all the attention* 

Abah belum cakap saya happy birthday. 

He started verbal communication when he was about 5. Started with loads of stammering, loads of ‘look-up-in-the-sky’ moments when he tried to assess the vocabulary bank in his mind and uttering somewhat awkward sentences. Well, we all started all things somewhere, don’t we? We fall before we can run. 

Iman, now attends a normal school in a normal class. He still have verbal communication issues, which means he still has problems getting messages across, which means he is prone to bully and those nasty words other kids gave him. Problem here means, he needs longer time to construct sentences. He can, but at times he needs longer time. Sometimes, after school he’d tell us that this boy call him names, that boy does that and this. I can’t protect him all the time, I can’t be telling the children out there not to do this and that. 

In certain context, at 9, he needs to learn to protect himself and stand for himself. 

Abang, you have to be strong. 

Orang kata Abang macam-macam, let them be. 

Only stupid people call other people stupid 

*I suddenly reminded on those times when I silently curse other people. You see, at times I learnt my lessons in a most unexpected way* 

Abang buat tak tau je. 

Kalau Abang marah-marah, lagi orang tu suka ejek. 

Abang be strong okay. 

Last week, he lost a pencil that was in an exercise book given by his ustazah mengaji. He searched frantically but to no avail. He came to us with panic written all over his face. A simple message ‘pensil hilang and I need a new one’. I took him minutes after minutes explaining. Sampai berpeluh-berpeluh, trying to translate thoughts into words, trying to catch his breath, all at the same time. 

Dah serupa macam sesak nafas. 

And I was sesak with emosi. 

Each time such incident happens, at night before bed, I can’t help but to ponder upon it, and I am not sure of who should be strong. 

He, or me? 

Please don’t take this as me complaining. I am merely penning down thought and feelings. Having lived with this for years since he was first diagnosed way back in 2008, we have learnt to welcome and embrace strengths and weaknesses of my children alike (as I have put it in my entry dear Kakak). We have learnt that every child will bloom eventually, only time will tell. 

Iman. Different, but not less. 

That’s what I always like to remind myself. 

dear Kakak..

 

This, explains result UPSR Kakak and how she, and we feel about it.

I understand to the eyes of a 12yo, this is a big thing, especially when the teachers targeted her to get straight A’s. While she was trying to cope with emotion of not getting what she wanted, I was trying hard myself – to cope seeing her so sad and broken. A senior at work once told me, when children are babies, we are physically exhausted. When they grow up, we are emotionally challenged.

I actually knew her result before she did. I text-ed the sms-system provided. And alhamdulillah, when the reply came, I was calm and composed. I have prayed for the best things for her and insyaAllah this, is the best for her. Of course I wanted her to get what she wanted – 5A’s. Nonetheless, I have taught myself to accept and embrace my children strengths and weaknesses alike. 

Dear Kakak, 

In life, you have to learn how to win but you must know how to accept defeat. Your life journey is way ahead of you from where you are now. There will be many wins and defeats, laughter and cries, happiness and sadness, successes and failures. I want you to embrace your life to the fullest. Sometimes we need to lose so we know the meaning of winning. Sometimes after we cry we appreciate more of the things that make us laugh. At times we will be happier after undergoing sadness. Sometimes we fail many times before we can have a taste the sweetness of success. Sometimes we fall, we hurt but most importantly we must get up and stand again. Those are life lessons what will teach you many things. You will be a strong person. You will be able to get your principles right and stick to those. And you will be able to always stand for your rights. And my utmost hope and prayer is that, for you to be able to stand on your own two feet when we’re gone. 

Dear Kakak, 

My friends convey their congratulations to you. They say do not worry too much about grades at this point. They say value life as a whole, not solely on what is written on the result slip. They say, not getting what you wanted in not the end of everything. Everything ends when you stop striving for the better. They say you have others talents and you must never forget that. 

I totally agree. 

Those are exactly my thoughts as well. 

let's go bananas! recipe: steamed banana cake .. apam pisang!

 I love bananas! Especially the lemak manis variation. When I was small, they were aplenty back in my kampung. The ready to eat variations inclusive of lemak manis, emas, rastali. Those that should be somewhat undergo any of the cooking process (fry, steam, bake) Actually you can just eat them directly but somehow they are better cooked  - abu, nangka, berangan, siang. Pisang siang is actually a very local name. It has other name some other places but I just can’t recall at this point. Pisang nangka is my least favored variation coz it has a hint of sourness. Though I can be such sour-grape at times, me and sour-ish food just don’t agree with each other most times.

Now that we live in KL, our banana pick are limited to berangan and emas most of the times. We buy Dole’s few times. It’s expensive and almost tasteless. A blessing what, when you don’t like something that is expensive he he. Whenever we go balik kampung, Mok would keep few sikat of pisang lemak manis (few combs of bananas? my children are confused) for us. Mother, you see, they always remember what your favorite food are, and somewhat their cookings always taste better than ours despite using the same exact recipe. Mok’s fried kembong are always better than mine. Talk about air tangan huh. 

Anyway, my children carry my genes in this banana quarters. They love banana. But still sometimes we have leftover. These leftover normally ended up on the table as cokodok, Choc Banana Cake and Apam Pisang. The first time I did Apam Pisang, sangat bantat okay. Kecut beyond words. Lucky that I have Adam, he ate few cuts, perhaps to jaga hati Ummi. Awww,.. now how can a 5yo boy can be so sweet… The rest masuk Cik Tong sampah. I googled for explanations and from readings I can safely conclude that, always ensure your mixing bowl is completely dry when you have eggs as one of the ingredients. Second time, I made sure the bowl and other utensil used were completely dry and poof! Hasilnya cantik naik kembang setaman. Too bad I used Dole’s so rasa agak hambar…

Last Tuesday I realized we still have few bananas in the fridge. The skin was all brown and black already. After few intimate minutes with Mr Google, I decided to do Apam Pisang, or nama lebih orang putih, Steamed Banana Cake.

Original recipe Apam Pisang from Noorsha. I did mine with a bit of alteration. For Apam Pisang, IMHO it is best to use the sweet variation of banana (lemak manis, emas, berangan, rastali).

Ingredients
2 cups mashed banana (yield from about 5 bananas)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk powder
1/4 cup corn oil


- mix all ingredient, add a little water if the mixture too thick
- spoon into small cup
- steam for 10-15 minutes (depending on size of cup)

 Here's mine. Err.. they were not supposed to bloom like that actually.

but, who cares? :D

of forced-leave and resepi 'sunburnt' donuts

Salam Maal Hijrah to all! Likewise many people out there, I made resolutions for betterment in whatever roles that I play, in whatever hat that I have on my head. I pray to Allah to please bless me with good beneficial life for the rest of my life. I pray to Allah to have ample time to ensure my children to at least have good solid strong foundation in life so that they can stand on their own two feet when I am gone. I pray to Allah to bless my parents with good healthy happy golden years. I pray to Allah that my marriage will last till Jannah and that we will stand for each other come what may.

Of late, I have lots to be thankful for. Kinda made me shame on myself as I have not prayed hard enough, neither I am good enough as a muslim. Kakak, landed at first place in the final exam. Finally, the last exam in her primary school. And she finished 30 juzuk of Quran end October. Iman, who has been struggling all his life where linguistic is concerned, scored 94 in Bahasa and 60 in Math.  Not much for some mothers perhaps. Close friends of mine who know our struggle in dealing with ADHD would surely understand why I feel that way. Adam, who had sudden high fever, got better 2 days after and started reading simple words!

Anyway. We had a four day leave last weekend. There's this thing called 'forced leave' implemented at where I work. With exception to those who work on shift and very closely with operational matters, others were supposed to take replacement leave (public holiday that falls on Saturday will be replaced on other working day). We had Saturday and Sunday as weekends, Monday as replacement leave and Maal Hijrah fell on Tuesday. 

We went to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort on Saturday and left for a wedding in Bagai Serai on Sunday. Traffic was a crawl on the way back to KL. We braced the rain and the traffic and arrived home at 10:45pm. We left Kuala Sepetang at around 5:30pm. Yup, Kuala Sepetang for steaming bowls of Mee Udang :-)

Monday was Thor's day. Someone was very happy that he went to purchase the tix at 9:30am. Kedai only buka at 10:00am, mind you. You see, some people will never grow up :D

Tuesday was the day I re-ignited back my romance with the kitchen. Made some not-so-good-looking donuts post-breakfast. They were intended for breakfast but Tuesday morning was cold that it took longer time for my dough to proof.

So here's them. My friend commented 'awat donut hang dah macam serupa cokodok?' A little burnt but like I always said, that's nothing new by my standard.

The boys helped me terap this. Not so productive. They hovered the dough with donut-mould in hand and I barely managed to roll the dough thin enough, they serbu the dough already. They always try to outdo one another. Let them be. Now, let's not kill their interest and creativity, shall we? I ended up with senget benget donuts. Never mind :D

Resepi asal dari blog Kak Azlita Masam Manis. Resepi donut di sini. She has beautiful photos. She is skilled at arranging her deco and all her food look so yummy. Of course my donuts were nowhere near hers so please don't compare he he.

I altered a bit - added few spoons of powdered milk and increased the sugar as I did not intend to do the chocolate coating (cos I tak tau nak buat macamana sebenarnya ha ha)

Bahan

250 gm tepung roti
100 gm gula

3 sudubesar susu tepung

1/2 suduteh garam halus
6 gm yis
2 biji kuning telur
100 ml air suam
50 gm mentega (dicairkan)

Cara
- Campurkan semua bahan dan masukkan dalam mixer. Uli selama 10-15 minit menggunakan dough hook. Kalau dough melekat pada dinding mixing bowl, tandanya ia terlalu lembik. Tambah tepung sikit demi sedikit.

- Letakkan dough dalam bekas yang diminyakkan sedikit, tutup dengan kain. Letakkan di tempat yang agak panas selama 30-45 minit atau sehingga dough menjadi sekali ganda.

I had mine proofed for more that an hour, mungkin sebab cuaca sejuk, yis pun malas nak bangun lagi he he.Siap sempat saya morning nap while waiting for the yeast untuk beraktiviti.

- Lepas dough dah naik, tumbuk-tumbuk untuk keluarkan udara. I rolled the dough to 1/2 inch thickness and terap guna acuan donut. I think kena nipis sikit lagi coz mine turned out so tebal after 2nd proofing.

- Not wanting to tunggu lama for second proofing, I simple turned on the oven for 10 minutes at 40d. Then switched it off. After 5 minit  boleh masukkan donut yang siap dibentuk for 2nd proofing.

- After 30 minutes, boleh lah goreng. Sila goreng kejap je atas api sederhana or else yours will be as burnt as mine.

For that much of ingredients, I got 20 ketul donuts.

We were 5 happy people that day :D

demam nak pandai..

Ahad malam Isnin, Cik Mat ni menyelinap masuk bilik kami, join sekaki tido. Bukan sekaki je, setangan, sebadan, sekepala.. sampai Abahnya give up tido kat tilam kecik tepi katil. Rupanya Cik Mat ni demam. Tapi tido tetap membuas. Bangun pagi ceria.. all chirpy and cheeky. Mak nya tengah siap sedia nak mandi pun dia suruh keluar sebab dia ada urusan kat toilet that could not wait.

Fine. Kasi chan la kan.

Tak sampai tengahari, sms diterima dari taska. Badan Cik Mat ni panas.. tak kebah-kebah walau dah bagi ubat. Maka tengahari tu baliklah kami ambik dia bawak pegi klinik. Sepanjang kat klinik gitulah muka dia. Tanya soalan satupun tak nak jawab. Offer apa-apa pun semua takde respon. Ofkos la tak offer dia Lego Starwars idaman dia yang berharga RM300++ tu kan.

Balik rumah dia nak tengok muvi Turbo. Habis muvi nak makan nasi dengan sup. Syukur ada periuk Noxxa ni. Pressure cooker yang sangat membantu time sesak-sesak macam ni. Saya tak jual.. sila cari agen Amway ya. Cik Mat ni memang suka tolong Ummi masak. Masa tu macam dah kebah sikit. Dialah yang paling sebok menumis bagai. Halfway through masak, demam balik.. terus tertido. Bangun makan, cuma 5-6 sudu je. Yang tak demam berpinggan-pinggan makan nasi.

Esoknya nampak segar. Cakap pun dah banyak sampai tak terlayan cerita ceriti dia. Dan pentingnya - dia tunjuk skill membaca :D Adoi nakk.. sukanya Ummi. Selalunya kalau Ummi ajak dia baca buku (saja nak test skill dia), dia cakap dia tak tau. Tak reti.

My fren cakap, macam baby.. nak pandai buat something, demam dulu.

Alhamdulillah Allah permudahkan. A very different story dengan Iman. Alhamdulillah Allah bagi peluang kami merasa kedua-dua keadaan. Dengan Iman, walaupun lebih mencabar, terlalu banyak life lesson yang kami belajar, yang tak tertulis di kertas.

recipe: cream cheese buns (plus some horrifying looking sausage rolls!)

Me, the oven and the kitchen mixer... we're so involved..

Who would've thought those appliances can give so much excitement?

The kitchen-mixer Tebby got me, it is ultra sturdy. It is heavy. And it is handsome too. And it kneads as well as beats and mixes. Owh yeahhh! 

Maka timbul lah semangat me-roti. Tanpa perlu mengeluarkan muscle umpama Popeye selama 10-15 minit. My first two attempts were based on recipe Khaliah Nahal Soft and Sweet Buns from Sadaf Culinary Adventure.  

First trial - The taste was right but the texture was so-so. There was nothing wrong with the recipe me think... it's just that I should've left the dough to proof for longer time. Tak sabor punya pasal...

Second trial - alhamdulillah, the taste and texture was just right (at least to me). I left the dough to proof longer time and I did that twice.

But simple me always try to find simplest recipe :D Hence, my third attempt was based on recipe Roti Manis written here. She shares nice simple recipes and she has beautiful photos too :-)

16 buns in 9x9 baking pan. Each is made from approximately 60gm dough. Iya, saya timbang setiap sebiji. Sebaik saja siap bakar, terus glaze with melted margarine (or butter, ikut kesukaan masing-masing).

The inside. Actually ada inti cream cheese.. tapi cubitan si Iman tak sampai ke inti nya lagi.. Gebu kan.. ai loike..

I also made sausage-rolls, Adam's favorite. A little burnt here.. but that's nothing new la by my standard he he.

400gm tepung roti

1 sudu teh bread-improver

1 sudu teh bread-softener

3 sudu besar susu tepung

2 sudu teh yis segera

3-4 sudu besar gula

1 sudu teh garam

2-3 sudu besar marjerin (boleh guna butter juga)

180 ml susu suam (mine is susu segar from fridge, microwaved for 1 minutes)

1 egg (takde dalam gambar)

Put all ingredients in mixer then knead for 10-15 minutes. Dough should not stick to the bowl. If it does, letak tepung sikit demi sikit. Letak doh in a lightly oil-ed bowl, covered and letak kat tempat yang panas. Not hot.. tapi warm. Some suggest letak dalam oven (mode-off).I put mine on my water dispenser. That machine dispenses air at room-temp as well as 90d hot so memang body nya agak hangat. After about 45-60 minutes, saiznya more than double already.

*tangan Adam* Tumbuk-tumbuk doh untuk keluarkan angin then bulat-bulatkan into small balls of 60gm each. I have tried doing it 40gm each, memang hasilnya comel tapi renyah nak masukkan inti.

Intinya..

120gm cream cheese (I used Tatura)

2 sudu teh gula pasir

Gaulkan keduanya sampai sebati. It is best to soften the cream cheese first, baru senang nak gaulkan. Nak masukkan inti tu,.. sama macam nak buat kuih pau. Leperkan dough then bubuh inti. Pastu tutup. Golek-golekkan supaya jadi bulat.

Proof for another 45 minutes at least or until saiz dah double. Glaze with melted margarine. Bake in 160d oven, api atas bawah, fan assisted for 10-15 minutes.

For that amount of tepung, I got 16 buns and some horrifying looking sausage rolls as below :P Dough dah tak cukup tapi gigih nak buat banyak-banyak. I stretched them wayyy too long sampai pecah-pecah once they are proofed enough hu hu. I think for that 400gms flour dough, ample for 16 buns and 5 sausage rolls (good looking ones, not pecah terbarai like I did kat bawah ni) Each 60gm.

I made berry-rolls using the same dough a week after and they turned out, alhamdulillah well. I guess I'll just stick to this recipe for now.

easy peasy roast chicken legs

Confession - before I finally get to this, I have gone through burnt, dry, tasteless series of roast chicken. Lucky thing that we have a bunch of anak-anak bulu living semi-permanently with us, taking shelter under our porch, and another bunch of roaming around in the back alley :D

My advise, worry not too much of limited cooking skills. It can be learned and the best way is through trying and trying. To me, that's the best way of knowing how much is too much, how little is too little and how enough is enough.

Seen here on a bed of lettuce, roasted with potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. Big plate bought at KK Home Deco.

I normally use chicken legs, trim away the fat but keep the skin on. You can use any other parts of your liking.

Here's the marinade.
1. Oyster sauce
2. Dark soy sauce
3. Honey.
4. Garlic powder
5. Black pepper - coarse grind
6. Salt
7. Olive oil

How much of everything, is up to you. When you're done mixing, have a lick he he.

Lightly oil roasting pan. Arrange chicken nicely and brush some marinade. Seen here with potatoes, tomatoes and carrots. Broccoli and mushroom can also be used. I am allergic to broccoli and I didn't have mushroom, I just made do with whatever-there-is in the fridge :D

Roast at 160d, middle shelf, fan assisted for 30-45 minutes. But always remember different oven behaves differently. Yours may need different setting but mine works fine at 160d fan assisted and 180d with no fan. Halfway through, take it out, flip over and pour a little marinade. Then continue roasting.

You can marinate ahead. I normally marinate mine on Sunday so we can have roast chicken during weekdays but almost every time I ended up roasting on Monday night, much earlier than planned. 

Note of caution - always freeze these babies if you don't intend to bake within 12 hours.

I don't mean to brag but here's what Adam thinks of my roast chicken..

jemari hijau - first edition

Semangat Jemari Hijau dah menjelma semula :-) 

Kalau dulu laman sekangkang kera, now we have no laman anymore. Porch is fully tiled. Luckily, opposite rumah ada pavement, raised and tarred, about 1.5m wide. So that's my kebun now - approximately 1.5m wide x 6.7m long. Actually, my kebun tumpang. Since that area is tarred, my best option is to plant in pasu. Well, at least there is an option kan. 

Bought a lime tree 16 September 2013. Nak kata pokok besar, bukan. Nak kata anak pokok, pun bukan, it was about a little more than 1 m (I think) tall already. Beli pasu besar for RM25 and 6 packs of soil for RM1.50 each. Armed with my gardening tools and a little helper, Adam, we moved the tree from poly-bag into the pasu.

Photo taken on 23rd September. After a week.

4th October 2013 - berbunga!

About a week later... dah nampak putik. Excited!

16th October 2013. Dah nampak rupa bentuk bebuahan limau nipis.

Ada 3 bunches of bebuahan. Hope these will survive until harvest.

This one, solo.

And last weekend, me and my little helper (he's like a tail to me, di mana ada Ummi, di situ ada Adam), tried our hands at planting potatoes. I did this once long ago, all I got was the batang and daun only. Bila cabut, ada akar je.. takde ubi.

Since I have few potatoes kat dapur yang start turning to look like aliens with anak-anak ubi started growing from the induk, why not try again kan.

The big one is a russet if I am not mistaken. A very wrinkled one that is! Good for making mashed-potato but my mashed-potato project did not take off at all. For roasting and soup, I prefer the small ones like the one on the right. It has a more yellowish flesh inside. Russet is paler.

Buried these babies at approximately  4-6 inches deep. Hope to see the sprouts in a week or two. And I hope those budak-budak bulu tak memerut dalam ni. Like they did in my pasu pegaga. 

light-n-easy Nasi Daging

Nasi Daging went well. Made it for dinner last night. Even the strictest QA officer (mok) makan bertambah :D

Resepi asal disalin dari mamafami's fotopages. Yup, those were the days! Entry resepi tu dated way back in 2006! 

We've (me and Tebby) been doing it for years now and only recently we got the right consistency, taste and whatnots that suit our taste buds. The original recipe resulted in very rich taste. We omit ghee, tomato puree and raisins altogether. We lessen the evaporated milk and kurma powder paste. And instead of just beef, we use beef ribs (in addition to beef, btw) and we added garlic to broth. And we added salsa as accompaniment for that extra zest!

There's 3 items in the menu, involving 4 major steps: -
1. The broth
2. The salsa
3. The rice
4. The soup

1. The Broth
Since the rice will be cooked using beef broth, this is the first thing we need to prepare.
Ingredients: -
- 2 ribs - cut into small pieces, request your butcher or the pasar-man to do it unless you have a chainsaw at home :-)
- 1/2 kg lean beef - cut into big dices.
- 3-4 inches ginger - slice. I did mine with skin on.
- 1 bulb garlic - cut the top exposing flesh, skin on.


1. Boil until tender. I use a pressure cooker for 50 minutes.
2. Separate liquid from beef and ribs.We will not be needing the ginger and garlic btw.


2. The Salsa

Ingredients: -
- 4-5 tomatoes - cut into 8, deseed
- 1-2 cucumber - cut into pieces, deseed
- 1/2 onion
- 6 red chillies - to keep or to get rid of the seed it is up to your level of tolerance of pedas
- a bunch of coriander leaves (some may not like it - be warned)
- juice from a lemon
- salt and sugar to taste

Blend everything and keep in your fridge until your meal time :D

3. The Rice
Ingredients
- Rempah 4 sekawan i.e. cinnamon stick, cardamom, star anise, clove. I use just a little bit of everything coz my little nucleus family doesn't like anything with that strong spice-y taste.
- 4 garlic - slice thinly
- 5-6 shallots - slice thinly
- 1 inch ginger - cut into matchsticks
- 2 tbsp kurma - add with some water to form paste
- 1/4 cup evaporated milk
- 6 cups of basmathi rice (wash and soak for about 20 minutes)
- beef broth - quantity depends of the type of rice, even the brand that goes with it!
- a bunch of coriander leaves - cut off the root, keep the rest intact.
- 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
- salt to taste

1. Heat oil in rice cooker. I use a multifunctional pressure cooker - stir-fry setting.
2. Fry rempah 4 sekawan until aromatic.
3. Add ginger, garlic and shallot. Continue frying until garlic and shallot a little burnt.
4. Add a bit of beef broth.
5. Add kurma paste. Careful not to overdo it. Kalau hangit, memang tak sedap nasi nanti.
6. Add beef broth.
7. Add salt. Let is boil for while.
8. Add 1/2 portion of beef and ribs.
9. Add rice.
10. Add the rest of beef and ribs.
11. Put coriander leaves on top.
12. Cook until broth dries up and rice tender.

I use high-pressure setting for 15 minutes. It's a little tricky when I used the normal cooking pot coz it snapped to keep warm setting far too soon.

4. The Soup
- bring broth to a boil
- add fried shallot
- garnish with celery and spring onion

Let's!

have a blessed and joyful Eidul Adha

Eldest brother sms-ed me this morning. Tanya balik raya haji bila. Sabtu, tapi petang, I sms-ed back. 

Eldest brother sms-ed again (despite me reminding him to install whatsapp.. haihh). Mok tak daya nok masok, sakit badan. Awok masok, pikirlah nok masok mender.

What?

Cooking and me, we have just started getting to know each other better. I struggled in the kitchen department, I still do.

I'd better dish out something I am very familiar with. Nasi Daging will do. I've been doing it for years and only recently that I managed to get the right consistency and flavor that pleases taste buds. At least ours.

 

Have a blessed and joyful Eidul Adha next week :D
I will update on the Nasi Daging success (or failure!)

sausage rolls - revisited

Come meet my new love - a tough, good looking Artisan Kitchen Aid Mixer. We're still in the midst of getting to know each other but lets just say I can already feel the chemistry between us and this is going to be a long lasting relationship.

Tebby got me this for my 39th Birthday. I told him I wanted this and he agreed (almost) right there and then. He picked this flaming, sexy empire red color and made the order. We went through the hassle at the customs together and finally this week, I managed to get hand in hand with this baby - kneading dough for bread! ... baru beli power transformer sebenarnya :D

I was thinking to wait until the weekend coz it is time consuming to do bread with the double proofing and all. The anticipation was too much that I gave in last night he he. I revisited my Sausage Roll (my hangit, keras kejung Sausage Roll experiment, read here)

The original recipe here. I opted for this one coz it involves only one proofing (dah la tak reti buat roti tapi nak mendiva tak nak buat proofing two times like suggested by most recipes huh)

In a bowl, mix..
2 cups flour 

(I used multipurpose flour)
11 gms dried yeast which is equivalent to .38 ounces 

(original recipe says .25 ounce which is 7 gms - mendiva lagi sekali tak ikut arahan.. sepeket mauripan tu 11 gms so tuang aje semua)
2 tbsp sugar

1.5 tsp salt

In a pan, mix and heat up..

60 gms butter

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

You may want to do this first coz it needs to cool down a bit but keep it warm. Kang mati pulak yeast kalau panas-panas sangat, tak naik roti. Kalau sejuk sangat lambat nak naik coz aktiviti yeast is better when it is warm. Ni soalan pass-years UPSR selalu keluar pasal yeast ni

Add butter mixture to flour mixture and give it some kneading.
Add an egg.

And add bit by bit 2 - 2 1/2 cups of flour.
(so in total we use 4 - 4 1/2 cup flour, get it?)
I let it kneaded for 5 minutes only. Should extend to 8-10 minutes for softer bread. It will 'collect' the flour and slowly turns into a beautiful dough until it doesn't stick to the bowl.

Then work your dough on a slightly floured surface. I divided mine into several mini balls. Rolled each ball into thin strip and wrapped sausage with it. I have extra mini balls (not enough sausage) that we made into mini raisin buns. I used we coz the boys came to help and I had so much fun that I had totally forgotten to snap any pictures -__-

Proof for 30 minutes (recipe says wait until 30 minutes or until it doubles in size). Just before baking, I brushed these babies with fresh milk. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 160d, fan assisted, top and bottom heat. 

A tad bit too dull looking huh. My friends cakap brush with melted butter for that shiny sexy finishing. Some said before baking, some said right after baking. Perhaps I should do both next time he he for that extra shiny, extra sexy finishing...

The output... tadaaaa! Alhamdulillah, soft and most importantly, very,.. very,.. very edible.Wayyy better than my first trial and still lots to improve.