choc banana muffin with oreo crumb

 

Muffin is something you can still do after a long day at work. Secara relatifnya, lebih mudah berbanding kek. Tak perlu keluarkan mixer. You'll need two bowls, satu untuk bahan kering, satu lagi untuk bahan basah. Kalau tiba-tiba balik kerja, anak-anak buat surprise, esok ada jamuan kelas, pot-luck fashion. Fret not, muffin it is then. Among others la .. coz nugget and sausage are among the hit too :-)

Yang ni hasil adaptasi resepi Nigella Lawson.

Bahan-bahan
- 3 biji pisang masak +
- 1/2 cawan minyak sayur +
- 2 biji telur (dipukul sedikit) +
- 1/2 cawan gula perang
- 1 1/2 cawan tepung naik sendiri
- 3 sudu besar serbuk koko
- 3 sudu besar oreo crumb

- Panaskan oven 160d, api atas bawah, fan on.

- Di dalam satu mangkuk, campurkan semula bahan bertanda + (bahan basah)
Tips - pecahkan telur dahulu dan dipukul sedikit, kemudian masukkan bahan lain supaya tak perlu guna mangkuk lain untuk telur)
- Di dalam mangkuk lain, gaul rata bahan selebihnya (bahan kering)
- Masukkan bahan basah ke dalam mangkuk bahan kering.
- Gaul rata.
Tips - until just mixed, don't over do it
- Cedokkan ke dalam muffin pan atau bekas cupcakes.
- Bakar selama 15-20 minit.

Note:
Resepi asal guna tepung multipurpose dan baking soda, my shortcut guna tepung naik sendiri.
Resepi asal tiada orea crumb.

of raya plans & moist choc cake with choc ganache

I am behind target.

Target ibadah.

Target persiapan raya.

Dan macam-macam lagi...

 

Yang boleh agak dibanggakan ialah, saya sangat kurang berbelanja untuk hal-hal remeh seperti tahun-tahun sebelum ini. Baju raya sorang sepasang, yang simple simple aje so that lepas raya nak pakai pegi ofis pun boleh. Idok le segan pakai ke ofis sebab merelit macam nak pegi kenduri kawin.

 

Konon nak buat sendiri kukis raya, tapi entahlah.. macam makin berat je nak angkat sudip dengan mixing bowl hehe. Kalau tetiba rajin pun, mungkin 2 jenis je.. PB and Jelly Bars dengan Cranberry Coconut kukis. Kononnya hari tu cuti Nuzul Quran nak buat kukis.. kononnn la kan. Sebok dengan urusan duniawi apa entah, satu pun tak jadi. Siap butter yang dah softened masuk balik fridge hehe. But cakes, insyaAllah I will bake. I have 3 in mind now, Baked Blueberry Cheesecake, Kek Nanas and Moist Choc Cake with Choc Ganache.

 

Sebetulnya saya banyak menjahit tahun ni. Baju kurung siap sepasang. Satu pasang lagi kainnya belum siap. PJ bottom kakak dapat 4 helai. Alter kaki seluar 8 pasang (that's 16 legs and that's a lot by my standard hehe) I have 2 skirts for anak sedara bongsu yang pompuan in Q .. or she calls it as seluar labuh.

 

Anyway.

I found a Moist Choc Cake recipe yang by far, I like most. I used to use cooking oil as ingredients but this one uses butter. And I substituted my choc powder to imported choc powder. With all due respect, bila guna bahan yang berkualiti, hasilnya insyaAllah better. True, they come with good price-tag. Now I understand why some people sell a box of cookies bearing the same name at RM15 and some sell at RM20+. Kalau ikut tastebud saya, butter yang best is SCS, marjerin I use Daisy. Cream cheese so far guna Tatura coz murah and bila compare dengan other brands yang more expensive, rasanya tak jauh beza. If that's the case, I'll go for cheaper ones :-)

 

Actually plan nak buat kuih lain but my elder two nak kan choc cake. Layann. Original recipe from Love2Cook. I changed a bit by using low fat milk coz I didn't have susu sejat cair at home that time.

Ingredients
1. 100 gm self-raising flour
2. 50 gm chocolate powder
3. 180 gm butter
4. 180 gm sugar
5. 2 eggs
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7. 200 ml milk (I used low fat milk)

- Combine flour and choc powder.
- Beat sugar and butter till light and pluffy.
- Add eggs one by one. Beat until well mixed.
- Add vanilla extract.
- Add flour and milk gradually. Mix well.
- Pour into a 9x9 baking pan.
- Bake at 180d for 40-45 minutes.

Saya guna api atas bawah but no fan. Kalau guna fan, saya reduce to 160d. I baked mine for 35 minutes only.

For choc ganache, saya guna resepi from Nigella. Banyak resepi call for cream but I didn't have cream at home masa tu. So gunalah resepi without cream.

Bahan-bahan
1. 100 gm milk chocolate coin (I used beryl)
2. 100 gm dark chocolate coin (I used beryl)
3. 50 gm butter
4. 100 ml milk

- Satukan semua and masak atas dapur. Saya tak guna kaedah double-boil coz saya malas nak cuci banyak periuk (boleh?). Tapi saya guna heavy-bottom sauce pan and guna api paling selow.
- Dah cair, masak sampai nampak cantik and likat sikit, then tuang atas kek.

of achievements & jelly-custard recipe

Ramadhan 2014 - Day 16. Dah lebih separuh bulan puasa. Alhamdulillah. Mari doakan saudara mara kita di Gaza yang sedang diuji hebat. Dan kesemua saudara mara kita yang ditimpa kesulitan tak kira di mana pun mereka. Yang mampu bersedekah wang ringgit, sedekahlah. Paling tidak, berdoalah.

Hari Isnin minggu lepas, Kakak terima watikah perlantikan sebagai Pengawas Pusat Sumber sekolah. Finally! Berbulan-bulan lamanya acara sepatutnya diadakan, baru Isnin lepas betul-betul terjadi. Waktu dia tamat sekolah kebangsaan, kami galakkan dia to be an active student. Waktu sekolah kebangsaan, she was an intovert, quiet student. When she told us she was appling for Pengawas PSS, ofkos lah kami sangat galakkan. And maklumkan dia that jawatan comes with responsibility and that she should not take lightly on the roles she's entrusted with.

On the same day, Iman told he nama dia kena panggil naik stage masa perhimpunan. Ahhh sudahh.... ingatkan kena denda ke apa. Rupanya dia dapat badge, Murid Mithali. Congrats Abang.

Exactly Ramadhan 10 years ago way back in 2004, I was heavily pregnant with him. On 20th Ramadhan, I gave birth to him. Never expected Allah to select us to raise a special child. It was (and still is) not sugar-and-spice-and-everything's-nice kinda thing. It was an emotional ups and downs. It was a winding road. Nevertheless, alhamdulillah, banyak belajar tentang banyak perkara. And I know more about myself. Susah nak explain, it's like mencari diri sendiri.

Of late, he's been all curious and asks lots of questions about lots of things. If he's not satisfied with our answers, he googles them up the net. Everytime there's Hari Akademik, the same comments on him being unable to concentrate, fidgeting and whatnots. And the latest, his class teacher commented that he does not act his age. He's 10 but he's 7. Imagine him back in 2011, starting year 1 at 7 years old but inside him is like a 4 years old. Must be pretty scary to be (almost) alone without us fimiliar faces in a big school.

Anyway, I am happy with his curiosity. Go explore. Go widen your world boy. I will always hold your hands until you let mine go.

Di bawah ni, saya kongsikan resepi Jelly Custard. Similar with puding trifle, cuma bahagian bawahnya tak swiss roll, instead buat custard. First time makan this combination (jelly+custard) kat rumah Elin waktu visit dia and her baby. Sejuk-sejuk... sedappp.

Bahan-bahan
1. 1 tin susu sejat cair
2. 1 tin air (sukat guna tin susu yang sama)
3. 3 sudu besar tepung custard
4. 3 sudu besar gula
5. 2 kotak jelly serbuk (saya guna Nona)
6. 1 tin buah pic dalam tin (saya guna sliced peach) - ambil buah saja

- Masukkan susu sejat, 1/2 tin air dan gula dalam periuk. Masak atas api sederhana hingga mendidih perlahan dan gula hancur.
- Campurkan 1/2 tin air dengan tepung kastad.
- Alih periuk berisi campuran susu dari api sebentar. Tuang campuran tepung kastad ke dalam campuran susu sambil mengacau.
- Kembalikan periuk ke atas dapur, teruskan memasak hingga agak likat. Hati-hati jangan sampai campuran berketul. Sentiasa kacau. Personally, saya lebih suka gunakan whisk.
- Tuang dalam acuan dan biarkan sejuk.

- Masak jelly serbuk seperti arahan pada kotak.
- Susun buah pic atas campuran kastad yang telah sejuk.
- Tuang jelly yang masih panas secara perlahan-lahan ke atas custard. Pastikan susunan buah pic tidak huru hara :)
- Biarkan sejuk sedikit, kemudian masukkan ke dalam fridge.

* Saya tambah sedikit cream corn dalam adunan kastad. Tapi anak-anak lagi suka plain, with no corn.

** Boleh juga di makan dengan whipped cream (gemok gemok!)

Selamat mencuba dan selamat meneruskan Ramadhan dengan lebih khusyuk lagi..

 

 

 

 

of kids' fasting & resepi rendang paru sempoi

Cepatnya masa berlalu. Hari ni dah pun 9 Ramadhan. Nak menghampiri 1/3 bulan dah pun. Kids are doing okay. Well, almost. Perhaps yang paling segar is, suprisingly, Iman! I thought he'd be all grumpy coz dia ni suka makan. Kakak pulak yang terkesan sangat. Penat katanya. Muka pun monyok je. As for Adam, the longest he can tahan so far is sampai pukul 6:00 petang. But he has his sahur at 6:30 btw hehe. Puasanya cuma kalau ke sekolah. Kalau kat rumah bukan main kencang makan. Walhalkan hari biasa takdelah makan macam tu..

 

5th day. sempat lagi lena.. nak suruh buat air teh-o pun rasa tak sampai hati..

 

guess who joined us for sahur on 5th day? sudahnya tak makan ponn... minum solivite jek.

 

Ibadah-wise, I haven't been doing lots of things, really. Missed terawikh once due to backpain. Read few pages of Quran per day. Salute to those who read Quran, one juz per day. I try not to miss Dhuha. I try to give more to the less fortunates. When there's something inside me stopping me, I know it's me and myself control. *ponder & reflect*

In the kitchen department, alhamdulillah, we are blessed to be able to do homecooked spread so far for iftar and sahur. Tebby and me went to pasar ramadhan once and bought otak-otak. Agak kecewa dengan rasanya... Dah rezeki penjual tu kan. Maybe it was just my taste bud that didn't agree with those otak-otak. Only one or two was eaten.

Anyway. Back to our iftar spread. Normally sampai rumah at around 6:30pm, which means we have ample time to cook in aman-aman-saja mode. Once, we got home at 7:00pm but suprisingly everything got onto the table just in time azan Maghrib kedengaran. Well, almost everthing la. Our microwave was beeping masa azan tu.. baru selesai panaskan nasi.

Last week, it was nasi for 7 days straight! My miniscule family, we don't do nasi sangat for dinner on normal days. This week, Tebby dah request menu non-nasi. But I want nasi. Semalam I did roast chicken for iftar with potatoes and baby carrrots. Selesai solat terawikh, laparrrr hehe. I had slices of bread cicah rendang paru. I did my first rendang last weekend. Good news, it turned out well, at least by my standard. Good news, orang lain semua taknak makan coz of the paru. So I had all for myself hehe. No lah, I was hoping they would enjoy it as much as I do. Kakak was super excited at first, tapi lepas tau itu paru, terus dia taknak. Next time k Kakak, Ummi buat rendang daging special for you.

 

the battlefield. bila dah mula mendidih tu, merata kena percik kuah..

 

Bahan-bahan
1. 600 gm paru, potong dadu, cuci bersih dan toskan.

2. 3 sudu besar kerisik

3. 1kg santan

4. 7 biji bawang merah

5. 5 ulas bawang putih

6. 1 inci halia
7. 1 inci lengkuas

8. 2 batang serai

9. 1 sudu besar cili boh

10. 1 sudu teh rempah kurma

11. 1 sudu teh rempah kari

12. 1 keping asam keping

13. Garam & gula secukup rasa

14. Rempah 4 sekawan (bunga lawang, cengkih, kulit kayu manis, buah pelaga)

15. 2 sudu besar minyak untuk menumis



 

- Bawang merah, bawang putih, halia, lengkuas, serai di potong kasar dan kisar dengan sedikit air.

- Satukan bahan kisar dengan paru.

- Tambah serbuk rempah kurma, rempah kari dan cili boh.
- Gaul rata dan perap sebentar.

- Panaskan minyak, tumis rempah 4 sekawan hingga naik bau.

- Masukkan paru yang diperap, masak hingga air agak kering, kacau dari masa ke masa supaya tidak melekat.

- Tuang santan, masukkan kerisik.

- Masukkan garam dan gula.

- Masak hingga hampir kering, kacau supaya tidak hangit.

- Campurkan asam keping, masak lagi hingga kering

 

Ada banyak versi resepi rendang, I ofkos ambik yang paling mudah. Daun limau purut tak letak. Ada orang masukkan santan pekat dulu, then baru santan cair. Tapi saya tak rajin camtu. Ni la yang Mok saya selalu membebel.. banyak benda nak short cut hehe... but ofkoslah, rendang Mok saya always the best. Tak boleh lawan.

 

 

 

 

of Ramadhan & kids .. and meatloaf recipe

Today is already 4th of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah first day fell on Sunday. We spent the day mostly at home, did groceries and fresh provision yess.. I love pegi pasar basah for the coming week while the kids were at Global Art and in the evening masak-masak in relax mode for iftar. While parents with anak-anak di perantauan took the chance bersahur and berbuka bersama-sama.

 

I remember last Ramadhan's first day fell on weekdays and we had to brace maaaadd craaaazzyyy traffic to go home. Sampai rumah lagi 15 minit nak berbuka. Kelam kabut sangat walaupun menu simple. And years before, Maghrib masuk barely 7:00 pm. That time anak-anak belum mula puasa. Minum air dulu, solat then only we had proper meal.

 

Kakak has been fasting full month for years now. And this year as well, insyaAllah. Unless she gets her period within this month! She's all cranky and moody and on first day, at 7:00 pm she thought she was digesting herself coz all sahur food digested oredi!

 

Iman, so far, is doing good. No complaints. When asked, dia kata dia lapar tapi lepas tu tengok TV berdekah-dekah ketawa. I think he's getting along well with this fasting matter. I also suspect his energy reservoir is pretty much impressive! (read: body fat). Warned not to gain anymore weight, nanti baju raya tak muat.

 

While my elder 2 are at that, Adam took his sahur at 7:00 am and broke-fast at 12:00 noon on first day. And he was an energy bunny mode, full power pulak tu for the rest of the day. Not a good combination I'd say.. an energy bunny and a tired mom. On second day he told us Mama Azah (pengasuh taska) yang suruh dia buka puasa waktu balik tadika. Well, I have to check hehe.

 

Like the past years, and like most wife and mom out there, I aim for homecooked meals for iftar. On weekends maybe boleh beriya-iya sikit la the spread. On weekdays simple-simple je. Anyone yang bekerja area yang femes dengan traffic jam would agree on one thing. Time is crucial. Hence eloklah perancangan menu dan persediaan bahan-bahan dibuat terlebih dahulu.

Memula buat menu. Then only we know what to buy. Wet-marketing (read: shopping lauk and sayur di pasar basah) is done weekly. Balik pasar silalah spend few hours untuk membersih, menyimpan, memerap, memotong, mengisar dan sebagainya. I only perap provision untuk iftar for the next 2 days. Lama-lama sangat nanti tak sedap. Unless we're making pekasam here. And the night before, I check on my menu and do the necessary preparations. Kalau nak buat sayur, I sliced bawang besar, bawang putih and whatnots siap-siap. In short, sampai rumah after work, masak je. Tak perlu nak prepare memotong, menyiang, menggaram dan yang sewaktu dengannya.

 

At Pasar Kajang last Sunday. Bought few types of fishes, a chicken, beef ribs and some vege. Yang vege tu.. amboi.. ambik sikit je pun sampai berbelas ringgit..

Below, I am sharing Meatloaf recipe. Orang melayu cakap apa ek, Lof Daging? Bantal Daging? Kalau hari-hari bekerja, saya prefer masakan jenis roast. Senang, masukkan dalam oven and while it's roasting, bolehlah tuan punya diri pegi mandi dan angkat kain dan sebagainya. Ada orang cakap sebab pemalas, suka hati lah kan nak cakap apa.

 

2 packs minced beef, jadi lebih kurang 550 - 600 gm kesemuanya.

1 pack mushroom. Nak guna yang dalam tin pun boleh.

 

 3 keping roti, rendam dalam susu secukup-cukup aje. Jangan banyak sangat susunya, nanti meatloaf soggy

 

 3 biji telur

 

 1-2 sudu besar brown sugar

Perasa garlic power
Serbuk lada hitam
dann..

garam.. takde dalam gambar

1/2 labu bawang besar, dadu halus..

 

Koyak/hancurkan roti berendam susu tadi. Masukkan telur dan bawang besar. Gaul rata.

 

Kendian tambah brown sugar, serbuk lada hitam, perasa garlic powder dan garam

 

Masukkan minced beef sama mushroom yang dihiris nipis. Gaul lagi.  

 

Minyakkan keliling loaf pan. Masukkan bancuhan tadi dalam loaf pan. Bakar 30 minit suhu 160d api atas bawah, lepas tu kurangkan suhu ke 140d, bakar lagi 15 minit. Untuk uji dah masak ke belum, cucuk meatloaf, kalau cecair yang keluar itu jernih, makanya dah masak la tu..

 

Kalau suka makan berkuah, boleh buat mushroom or blackpepper sauce. Our sauce pulak guna sos cili dan sos tomato (sama ratio), tambah sedikit perasa garlic powder dan brown sugar. Tak perlu masak.

Owh ya, hari tu kat Pasar Kajang, ada nampak mamat Arab ni bawak balik satu plastik beso minced beef. Mungkin boleh beli daging and mintak dikisarkan. Kot? I have to check next time ke sana.

Salam Ramadhan dari Kak Mon sekeluarga.

 

ting! it's Juicing Season 2!

Juicing Season 2!

Masalah saya - tak isitiqomah. Belek-belek magazine, tengok Miranda Kerr terus beli blender nak buat juice macam dia. Baca petua wanita arab, terus beli just delima sama susu sama olive oil. Semangat berapi-api la mula-mula tu. Then the flame dies off.

Juicing Season 1 saya bertahan sebulan dua. Pastu malas. Hilang motivasi. Baru-baru ni belek magazine apa tah.. tetiba membara semula nak buat juice. Thought of getting a good juicer.. bimbang pulak jadi hiasan je sudahnya nanti. Dah tentu kena ceramah free kang. A good one costs like more than 1k! Instead I bought a mini Phillips blender with inner strainer. It's better to gulp down all the hampas as well actually but my tekak just can't take it (yet) at this point. But worry not, the hampas can be used as body scrub. Add some sugar or salt as exfoliator. My personal perference is sugar.

It's been a week and I am still juicing. Hope it lasts this time around.

There's this uncle who sells fruits in his van during lunch time at Menara TM's roadside. The red dragon fruit cost me RM5.00 for 2. 5 red apples sold at RM4.00 or sometimes 4 for that price, depending on the size. I am not sure if those are cheap but it is sure very convenience for us coz we don't have to go to kedai. The kedai comes to us!

Kids love them! Most days bekalkan diorang fruits bawak ke taska. Apples, oranges, bananas, melons, grapes. And of course dragon fruits. Semalam bawak dragon fruits. Cut them up into cubes and the kids had them all during breakfast time.

As for me, I like fruits with intense flavour. Durian. Mango. Manggis. Kuini. Dragon fruits, are not. They have mild, indistinct taste and flavour. At least to my tastebud la kan. So I added them up with green apple.

Yummylicious! Made two cups, for us girls.

of cuti sekolah and makan-makan

It's that time of the year again! Cuti sekolah is back! We are taking leave next week but no big plans so far. A night getaway at One World Hotel, a day makan-makan trip to Sungai Besar. We will also balik kampung to spend time with Atok and Wan. I hope this time around Atok will not keep a musang for the kids to see he he. Things Atok does for cucu. Of course my kids were super excited. Now, who gets to see a musang? Real life! Even for me who was brought up in kampung, that was the first time I saw a musang. I ran. Seriously. So fiesty. With eyes so big. Deep dark dark black skin like midnight. And those claws.

Okay enough of that musang thingy. See, even I got super excited haha.

We may selit some shopping trips. I have this project going on now, it's called BlingMyKitchen. Yes, I am full of drama like that. My project basically revolves around changing worn-and-torn pots and pans, fork-and-spoon and if there's good deals, I want to have new knife sets and their matching wooden block. And I need sidetables in the bedroom. You know to letak all the minyak angin, vicks, minyak panas and the likes. But let's see la. Coz I have these in mind for months now and all I got to do as of now, putting my baking supplies in coordinated containers, labelled and stacked uniformly in kitchen cabinet. And I haven't done a slightest thing about the sidetables. But first, let me check my purse he he.

Anyway, just want to share my dinner many weeks back.

My kinda sad-looking dinner.. but alhamdulillah. I still have food on the table. Came back late and the kids already dinner at taska. Fried egg mata kerbau style and stir fried greens for me.

Grilled Chicken + gravy and some cherry tomatoes. Definately not one of Iman's favorite. Saya tak suka ayam bakar atas dapur, saya nak ayam bakar dalam oven.

Ayam bakar dalam oven is Roast Chicken. I am one proud mother when they refused to eat Kenny Roger's. Ummi buat lagi sedap. Awwwww!!!



 

of Adam's FITC trip & moist nutella cake

Since this year Adam is gonna be 6 (it's next week!,  May 11th!), I permitted him to join Genius Aulad's trip to Farm In The City last Monday.

He was so excited. I meant, he was super excited. We lent our ears to his anticipation (in form of oral) repeatedly for a week prior to the trip. The moment he entered my car masa jemput from taska, he mercilessly told and re-told and retold us. Much to the elder two's annoyance. By the end of last day before his trip took place, sampai aje rumah, my elder two scrambled out from the car to their safety haha.

 

In red cap. All smiles. Bus B, he said. He's been telling me that for a week already. How could I forget, young man!

For a 6yo, a trip via big bus like this was a big deal. He kept peeking out and waved at me and only stopped waving when I waved back. For half hour.

 

2:30pm. He got back and I fetched him. All smiles. Bigger ones! Adam pegang cameleon Ummi! Adam pegang iguana! Adam pegang ular! Wow, all things I'd run away from. Sejukkkkk jeee badan dia. Tadi ada kambing macam Pak Long tapi besar. Kuda pun ada. Kambing tu bila angkat makanan, nanti dia berdiri dua kaki. yada yada yada. We later picked up Iman from taska. Adam, of course related his story again. Likewise when we picked up Kakak much later afterwards. And as soon as Tebby came from work. Again.

Anyway, I made Nutella Cake last weekends. My 2nd attempt. The 1st one ended up dry and brittle. I amended the recipe by adding up some cream and got the texture I wanted.

 

 

Ingredients

100 gms butter - melted and leave to cool

200 ml whipping cream

220 gms Nutella (smallest bottle)

2 eggs

3/4 cups brown sugar

200 gms glour
1/2 cup macadamia nuts - halved

 

- Beat eggs and brown sugar until light and fluffy
- Add whipping cream and beat for another minute of two.

- Add melted butter and Nutella. Beat until well mixed.

- Add flour. Use the flat beater if you're using a mixer. Otherwise use a spatula.

- Add macadamia nuts

- Bake for 30-40 minutes in 160d, api atas bawah with fan.


 

 

 

 

(tough) oven roast BBQ Beef Chunks

Remember my dinner with owh-so-fancy name? Oven Roast BBQ Beef Chunk + Potatoes?

Well, it was an epic failure. Beef chunks were hard to slice, let alone to chew and gobble up. Two important lessons: -

 

1. Sear first, then roast. To seal the juice. My beef chunks were swimming in their juice barely ½ hour in the oven, hence so keras. Coz I skipped the sear-ing process. The juice came out.

 

After half hour, macam kolam I tell you..

 

2.     Let the marketing expert do the marketing. I humbly admit Tebby does a better job in marketing tho I graduated with a major in Marketing, and he, Engineering. The beef that I bought was keras to begin with. I had hoped the chunks would go tender after the marinating process but obviously they were adamant to stay they the way they were.

 

Anyway, there’s always hikmah behind a tragedy...

1.       I muscled up my biceps from slicing exercise.

2.       My anak-anak bulu (cats laa), had two generous servings of marinated beef BBQ slices. They like it so much (I think) now they make donno only when we serve them their previously-preferred cat food.

 

After the un-eventful dinner, Tebby announced he likes dry-rub style better and that I do not have re-do and re-try this BBQ style again. Fine. Let’s just leave that to Wadihana (yums!), Tony Roma (yums!) and Chili’s (yums!).

Anyway, not to dampen your spirit. The mess was totally on me. Though I have scars on my arm from kuali panas and letupan-letupan minyak, I am still a lousy cook when it comes to certain dishes. I am sharing the recipe here with you, nonetheless. 

In red. Kuantiti - main agak-agak only.

twin lo(ve)afs

I am so in the mood of cooking these days. I made a weekly meal plan. Er, actually it’s just a one week plan. And I kinda like it. It made my weekly groceries shopping easier (and saves loads of time surveying from aisle to aisle) and my task in kitchen department a lot more efficient.

 

Last three night’s dinner was Wonton Noodle with Dumpling Soup. Last two nights was Oven Roast BBQ Beef Chunk + Potatoes and Roast Vege. (amboi nama macam menu kat kedai.. )

 

Once in a while I made bread and buns. Normally on weekends coz you have to have loads of patience when dealing with yeast. The shortest time I experience to proof my dough is 30 minutes. And there’s two sessions of proofing.

 

Last weekend I made two loafs – one is Pepperoni (kids are in love with this one) and another one Margarine Sugar (lesser hit but Tebby prefers this one).

 

Ingredients

1. 4 cups – bread flour

2. 2 tsb – dried yeast

3. 1 tsb - salt

4. 2 tbsp – sugar

5. 2 tbsp – margarine

6. 330 ml - warm milk

 

- Mix item 1-5 in a bowl. Add warm milk bit by bit. Dough should not stick to bowl. I kneaded (using mixer) for 10 minutes).

- Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cloth.

- Leave to proof until the size doubled (normally 30-45 minutes, sometimes an hour, depending on cuaca).

- Punch the air out and knead some more.

- Divide into two.

- Roll each into ½ cam thickness.

 

For Pepperoni Loaf

You’ll need pepperoni, grated cheese and mayo. Arrange pepperoni, layer with cheese and mayo. Roll into a loaf with seam face down.

For Margarine Sugar

You’ll need melted margarine and granulated sugar. Brush melted margarine then sprinkle with sugar. Roll into a loaf with seam face down.

 

Leave to proof once again until they double the size. Bake at 160d, api atas bawah, for 15 minutes. Leave to cool a bit before cutting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'fast'a pasta - baked bowties

As much as I want to be organized and systematic, there are days when I am totally unsorted, disorganized and a little chaotic. And as much as I want to eat home, there are days when we came back late and are too tired to even heat up the wok and had to rely on eating out. Bila ada peluang untuk masak di rumah, I'd jump with joy.

Last week was few of those days that I jumped with joy. I made Easy Peasy Grilled Chicken the other day and I did Baked Bowtie next day. (We rarely have rice meal with 2 or 3 accompaniments for dinner). I planned to do Cheesy Bowtie for the children. Dah alang-alang merebus pasta, baik rebus sepeket terus kan :D

Cheesy Bowtie. They can't wait too long for dinner so I fed them this simple dinner :D For the sauce, heat up some milk on low heat. Add cheese. I used mozzarella and cheddar. No need to add salt. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and sliced grilled breakfast sausages.

I made Baked Bowtie using the remaining pasta.

Ingredients
1. 500 gm bowtie pasta (I used San Remo) - cooked in boiling water with a little salt and oil. Once done, drain.
2. 3 medium sized potato - skin off. Sliced thinly. I used potato peeler to slice.
3. 1 onion - diced
4. 1 pack minced beef (I used Ramly)
5. 2 cups fresh milk
6. 3 eggs - briefly beat
7. Salt
8. 1 330gm traditional pasta sauce (I used Prego)
9. Mozzarella & cheddar cheese

- Heat up a little oil in a pot.
- Fry onion until translucent.
- Add minced beef, stir occasionally until half cooked.
- Add sliced potatoes. Cook for 5-10 minutes until potatoes soften up and beef cook through.
- Add pasta sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.

- In a separate container, mix milk, eggs and a little salt.
- Pour in the beef + potato mixture.
- Pour in bowtie pasta.
- Mix thoroughly and pour into a casserole.
- Add cheese on top.
- Bake at 160d, fan on. I used only bottom heat for the first 20 minutes then changed the setting to top and bottom heat for another 10 minutes as I didn't want the top to get too crispy.

Kids love them. If you kids love pasta, they'll love this too insyaAllah.

easy peasy grilled chicken

My husband is being assigned new portfolios and he has long working hours. Jiwa kacau, as I put it, my kids are. Late pick-ups (from taska), take-out dinners, frequent eating-outs. We have new arrangement now, driving separately to the office (we work in the same building, previously we car-pool) so I can clock out on time to mend those little broken hearts :D ... and spread them the joy of seeing sun goes down (coz we normally pick them up after 7:30 - 8:00pm on most days) .. while their father does what a bread-winner has to do. Life sure ain't all bed of roses at all time huh?

Yesterday was the kick-off of our new arrangement. Hit the road at 6:40am (a mom has to do what she has to do to get the scarce free-parking space!) and after office, reached Cheras at 6:15pm. Had ample time to do a little shopping before picking-up kids. Kakak only gets back at 6:50pm from school and I had these images of grilled chicken for dinner. AEON Big it was then!

Rest assured, this is super easy peasy to make. And people, when I say easy peasy, it is easy peasy :D So let's..

For chicken..
Bahan-Bahan:

- 3 chicken breasts - skin off, trim fat, wash and strain but I did not pat them dry
- 4-5 tsbp olive oil
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Salt to taste
- 2 sprigs of rosemary - we have this beautiful rosemary growing in out little potted herbs garden so I used fresh rosemary.


1. Prick chicken breasts with a fork. All over.The oil and taste will seep through easily
2. Marinade with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and rosemary.
3. Heat a griller (I used the famous 'magic-pan' areikan my mom gave me), use high heat but do use oil as we already have olive oil marinating the chicken.
4. Grilled them up about 5 minutes each side, depending on thickness. After both side done, close the lid and lower down heat. Leave to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
5. Set aside, let to cool a bit. Then slice


For vegetables..
Bahan-bahan
- Mushroom
- Carrot
- French beans
*Those were the things I could find suitable for grilling at AEON Big semalam but other vegetables can do as well.
- Worchestershire sauce (I used cap maggi)
- Salt
- Olive oil

1. Wash and cut vegetables
2. Marinade with olive oil and salt.
3. Heat 'magic-pan' with no oil.
4. Grilled the vegetables for 2-3 minutes.
5. Dash with a bit of worcestershire sauce. Just a bit, else they will get too salty.
6. Close the 'magic-pan' lid and cook for another 2 minutes.

Verdict? Sedap. (masuk bakul angkat sendiri!)
And the beauty of this.. I used the leftover for kids' bekal. Chicken Sandwich!

Note:
I don't sell 'magic-pan', merely promoting the ease it can offer you :D

recipe : walnut raisin loaf

Made this few days back. Walnut Raisin Loaf.  Original recipe at delia online. Substituted wholemeal flour with bread flour and walnut oil with olive oil. Wholemeal flour tu pernah la nampak kat kedai. Walnut oil tak pernah nampak pulak. But both memang takde kat rumah so make do je lah with whatever yang ada.

Ingredients: -
1. 6gm dried yeast
2. 2 tbsp brown sugar
3. 200ml warm water
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 1 tbsp olive oil
6. 300gm flour
7. 1/2 cup walnut
8. 1/2 cup raisin

- Add sugar to warm water. Pour yeast and stir. Leave for 5 minutes until the mixture bubbles.
- Mix flour with yeast+sugar+water mixture.
- Add salt and oil.
- Knead for about 5-10 minutes, until the dough does not stick to the bowl
- Add walnut and raisin to the dough and knead until well-mixed.
- Knead into your preferred shape and let it proof for about 1/2 hour or until dough doubles its size
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 160d, api atas bawah with fan.
- Leave to cool before slicing

Note:-
- I knead using a mixer
- I put the dough in loaf pan and left to proof for 1/2 hour.

 Told ya. Too bland for my tastebud (I am sweet-toothed!) so I slapped peanut butter generously.

This is how the dough looked like after 1/2 hour proofing.

bekal - pizza sandwich

'2014 Cost Saving Initiatives' kick-off!

Walk the Talk bak kata orang ni. Well, I am walking other people's talk and I sincerely hope they do the same :-)

I normally prepare two sets of bekal i.e one for kids to bring to school/kindy and another one for kids to munch at taska. Now tambah lagi satu set, bekal for me and Tebby for breakfast. I can safely say we have saved around RM40 this week. True that it takes more of my morning me-time but the satisfaction is overwhelming :-)

The key-word is 'plan'. Sama jugak macam buat Business Plan kat ofis kan. You need to know your objectives, set your strategy and initiatives in order to achieve the objectives and list out the resources needed. Kalau bangun pagi bukak peti ais baru fikir nak buat bekal apa... kelam kabut juga. Saya la tu, orang lain mungkin tidak. Unless I wake up at 4:00 or 4:30 la.. which I don't anyway.

Semalam plan nak buatkan Pizza-Sandwich for kids. Last night Tebby helped me assemble lebanese flat-bread with pasta sauce, sauteed beef and cheese. Kept it in the fridge and this morning I just heat up the oven and toast it. At the same time goreng ayam. While those are cooking (about 10-15 minutes), don you telekung and do your Subuh prayer. I am sure we women and mothers can multiskill. That's one strength Allah Bestowed upon us ladies. Isn't standing under shower while brushing teeth sound familiar? Or breastfeeding baby while spooning lunch to your other child.

For the Pizza-Sandwich, I used 2 sheets of lebanese flat-bread. Actually cari Missions's totilla wraps tapi tak ketemu. Lebanese flat-bread that I bought is smaller than totilla bread, hence hasilnya kecik cukup-cukup je for the kids bekal.

I am excited to plan ahead for next week. Hope I can squeeze sometime this weekend to try make my own sandwich loaf and to re-try doing my puff-pastry thingy, that was horrendous beyond words. The kind you need to eat with closed-eyes. They tasted good (masuk bakul angkat sendiri) but they puffed too much that you can't tell those are tarts without me telling you.

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