Weekend Projects

There is something about being deprived of warmth and sunshine over an extended period of time which makes one spring into a buzz of activity. We worked on the yard and put in a little vegetable garden in the backyard. After tilling the soil and weeding our little designated patch, I was very glad that we didn't do this for a living! Dear hubby is sitting on the couch with a heating pad on his back right now and I feel like I've been put through a washing machine! In any case, I think when we see the flowers blooming and eat the produce from the garden, it would be all worth it!


Mr. J started out early, mowing the lawn and prepping the area


Our little vegetable garden, we've put in cherry and regular tomatoes, chilli peppers, yellow string beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, yellow squash, chives, lavender and green onions.


Mr. J planted various bulbs etc so hopefully we'll see blooms in the summer or maybe next spring.

Of course, with my guy working hard outside, I slipped in to put a pot roast together.


Sear a good chunk of pot roast beef. Place in slow cooker, add beef broth. Season with onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, bay leaf and Lea & Perrins sauce.


Layer with sliced onions, carrots, potatoes and sliced mushrooms.


6 hours later, served with toast.

When the boy has his meat and potatoes, what's a girl got to eat?


Sushi with unagi, crabstick, cucumber, avacado and egg. 3 slices not because I'm on diet but because I couldn't stop eating when I was rolling them. Mr. J insisted that I eat dinner with him so 3 slices it was :) Mr. J laughed when he saw my plate, he was like, all day cooking and this is what you made???? Ahem, look for results in the next pic :)


I usually stock up on weekday meals since I have LeanCuisine for lunch with fruit or carrots, I like to have a hot meal when I come home that's not instant. I made Ikan Bilis Sambal and Beef Rendang, can't wait for a Nasi Lemak night! And Ikan Bilis Sambal is excellent with fried rice/noodles, sayur lodeh or can even be made into Sambal Telur... oooh, the possibilities are endless.

These pics are from last weekend, I made shortcut curry laksa, I used chicken stock with my mother's laksa paste that I had in the freezer.


Chicken breast seasoned with salt, garlic and ginger ready to be steamed in the microwave. Once cooled, shred for topping.


Ladle broth over rice vermicelli, yellow noodles and bean sprouts. Top with shredded chicken, mint leaves and sambal. Enjoy!

Vegetable lentil curry

This recipe is specially for my fellow blogger friend Farina who requested that I share from one of my previous post. Super easy and fast especially if you have a pressure cooker.

Indgredients

Group A
1/2 cup lentils [yellow], soaked overnight
10 pips garlic sliced
3 shallots sliced
1 tsp tumeric
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon oil
5 cups water

Group B
5 dried chillies
curry leaves, torn
1 red onion sliced
1 tsp mustard seeds

Group C
Any vegetable you like, I used;
Carrots
White carrot, dry fried in a wok without oil
Green beans
Okra
Tomato
Eggplant

Method:
1. Place Group A in a pressure cooker and boil for 20 minutes, add carrots and continue to boil for 10 minutes, lentils should be totally disintegrated by now.
2. Heat wok with some oil, add mustard seeds. Wait till it starts popping, add onions, fry till translucent. Add curry leaves, saute till brown and almost crispy, dump into lentil mixture.
3. Add white carrot, green beans, eggplant, okra and tomato. You may time it based on your preference on the tenderness of the veggies.
4. Add salt to taste and remove from heat.

This is delicious with spring hoppers, roti canai, basmathi rice, french loaf or even regular bread. Enjoy!

Bliss

Bliss is when you have your loved one by your side having insurmountable fun doing basically nothing really special at all! We started off today with a loud crash of glass and Mr. J yelling for help. I guessed that he broke the jar that held brazil nuts and I was right. In his sleepy haze, he went to get cereal and didn’t see the jar right next to it. It was a new jar but oh well, accidents happen.

I wish I thought to take a picture. It was priceless! There was Mr. J in his undies balancing on one foot not unlike a ballerina, trying not to step on any shards of glass. In any case, I came to the rescue *tsk tsk* and got everything cleaned up and once we got him fed, we both got ready and headed out to 9am Mass.

The morning was brilliant. 61 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny and the breeze carried the smells of almost-spring! After church, I was hit by an acute need to eat pineapple and Mr. J stopped by Kroger to get me one together with these primroses. Pretty flowers further comfort me that spring is almost here!



When we got home, I decided to make assam laksa. To the uninitiated, this is basically noodles in a spicy, sour and hot fish broth which is absolutely yummilicious. I did not have every single indgredient such as torch ginger [bunga kantan] or Vietnamese coriander [daun kesum] of which I have a single stalk that has been struggling through winter (look at the primrose picture and you’ll see it in the pastel pot). So I did it the shortcut way.

Assam Laksa

6 shallots, roughly pounded
1 inch galangal, sliced
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn
15 bird’s eye chillies, split
3 pieces dried tamarind slices (assam keeping)
2 stalks lemongrass bruised
Pineapple (I used fresh, dropped in the fibrous core and ¼ of the yummy flesh)
4 tbsp chili paste (I used tom yum paste)
1lb fish fillet, I used grouper [I guess any white mild fish works too, I’ve used tilapia]

Method:
1. Saute shallots with oil, add chilli, lemongrass and stir fry till fragrant. Add chili paste, stir fry and add kaffir leaves. Fill pot until ¾ with filtered water. Add tamarind slices and pineapple, bring to boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave for 1 hour.
2. Season to taste with salt, sugar and lime juice if the sourness level needs to be upped.
3. Drop fish fillets and this cooks real quickly, use the back of your spatula to break this up or mash it.

To serve:
Noodles – yellow or Vietnamese clear (blanched)
Sliced red onions
Julienned pineapple
Julienned cucumber
Sliced chilli
Fresh mint
Prawn paste [heh koh]





This hit the spot I have to say!


After cleaning up, I went upstairs to join the napping Mr. J, half napping and half watching tv. I got bored and decided to paint my nails.



What else left to do after painting but blog and blog hop!


After a while, I realised I'm missing a husband! I found him in the backyard. He had the little fire pit going.


The sky was overcast.


The river looked gloomy.


And yet, Mr. J decided to crank his grill. I marinated 2 chicken breasts for his salads and he threw a polish sausage on there for his dinner. Assam laksa isn't his cup of tea!


Close up of the chef's masterpiece.


First flip flop of the season!


The wind was blowing like crazy so I decided to go back to the cozy den. On the way, I noted the chimes were being beaten to death by the wind.


Ahhhh, back to my snuggly spot, this time with the addition of a steaming bowl of tau fu fah.


I feel like I am almost ready for the week ahead!

Theraphy

I may just be crazy, but there is nothing more relaxing for me to cook when I am stressed out or had a long day. Just the whole planning, preparation, right up to the actual cooking, it is like a tantalizing production. Therapeutic… like I said, I may just have lost it!

I know it is only Monday but I think the whole ‘busy season’ thing is finally catching up. At the head of the week and already wiped out. So what do I do when I walk through the door? If you guessed ‘cook’, then you are right my friend!

On the menu today;
1. Steamed white jasmine rice
2. Watercress soup
3. Sardine Sambal
4. Hairy gourd stir fry

I guess I got carried away! But the leftovers should last me for the week and this is such a life saver when I get home and need to continue working, get to take a quick, hot dinner instead of cereal. Although some nights, like last night, a bowl of Special K Strawberries with soy milk and a juicy peach just hits the spot!

I am usually one who cooks on a whim, usually this is because recipe research and locating my mother’s recipes are too time consuming so I just try to remember how my mom does it, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t!

However, I think I should start recording my recipes here just as a FYI for future references.

Sardine Sambal

1 can Ayam Brand sardines in tomato sauce, discard bones, reserve tomato sauce [I brought this from Malaysia so if any of you have tried a brand available here in Malaysia, let me know ya?]
1 large red onion, sliced
2 sprigs curry leaf, washed and torn up [this releases the fragrance]
1 tbsp plain chili powder [use the ones from Indian stores, this is usually dried chilies ground into a powder. Do NOT use McCormick or American versions]
2 fresh red [or green] chilies, split down the middle
1 large tomato cut into wedges
2 tbsp tamarind water [mix 1 tsp tamarind paste with enough water, strain]

Following items are pounded in mortal & pestle till well blended
1 tsp whole cumin [jintan manis]
3 pips garlic
½ inch ginger

Method:
1. Heat oil in pan, sauté onions till translucent. Add curry leaves and fresh red chili. Stir fry 1 more minute. Add pounded ingredients. Fry till fragrant.
2. Add chili powder, stir fry quickly and add tamarind juice [watch the flame as chili powder burns easily!]
3. Once the raw chili ‘smell’ goes off, add the reserved tomato sauce. Add tomato wedges [I like mine mushy and cooked so I add that early]. Bring to boil. Season with salt/sugar to taste. Add sardines in last to warm up, break it up if you wish to have smaller pieces but take off the heat. Overcooked sardines are tasteless!


Hairy gourd with shrimp and dried beancurd. This is one of my favorite vegetable dishes my mother makes, no matter how much she cooks, there are almost always no leftovers.

Hairy gourd stirfry

1 lbs hairy gourd [I used 3 cute little fellas], peeled and julienned
5 pips garlic, chopped
½ cube chicken stock/granules
10-15 large shrimp
2 pieces dried beancurd sheets, soaked and sliced
2 bundles glass noodles, soaked

Method:
1. Heat oil, add garlic and sauté. Add shrimp and stir fry till slightly pink.
2. Add beancurd sheets and chicken granules, stir fry for 2 minutes, add a little water if needed.
3. Add hairy gourd, mix it up. Season with salt if needed.
4. One minute before turning off the heat [depends on the level of tenderness you prefer your veggies], add glass noodles which cooks very quickly.

I love Chinese soups, it’s light, nutritious and simply delightful to the senses, it is basically the essence of all the good things you put into it [since it is boiled for hours!]. Since I saw fresh watercress at the Asian grocers over the weekend, I knew that this was going to be on the menu sometime this week.

Watercress soup

3 bundles watercress, washed thoroughly as it is lots of dirt [ie: sand]
1 lbs pork ribs/bones
½ cup dried dates, pitted and washed [the red ones sold at asian stores, NOT the sweet black ones you get at Harris Teeter or Publix that comes from California]

Method:
1. Fill a stock pot ½ full with cold water, bring to boil. Drop in the pork bones and let it simmer for 2 minutes. This step is to eliminate the ‘porky’ taste that comes from the scum resulting from the blood/fat. You will see this floating on top. Once the pork has stopped bleeding, dump out the contents into a colander and rinse the pork of the scum.
2. Either use the same stock pot [wash with soap!] or another stock pot, this time filling it up to ¾. Bring to boil. Add pork. Let it boil for 15 minutes, turn down the heat so it simmers. At this point, you will still see foam floating on top, skim that off. This also makes the soup clearer. Let it continue to boil.
3. Once no more scum noted, add in the dates. Let this simmer for at least 1 hour.
4. Add watercress, boil till desired ‘doneness’ and salt to taste if desired.

So there you have it, my ‘therapy’ for the day/week!



But not so much bliss though, it's back to work whilst eating for the chef... gotta love busy season!

Of love and crabcakes.

Mr. J is working this weekend. So this Saturday was the usual laundry, clean up and going into the office to work, it is busy season after all. So it was to my surprise when I got home at about 6 pm today to find these pretty yellow flowers which reminds me so much of spring... yellows and greens are so spring isn't it??? Also, a very thoughtful and sweet musical card... don't you just love 'just because' surprises?? I know I DO :)


So this evening was a relaxing one, I made my special crabcakes with an organic green, warm French gourmandaise cheese, ruby grapes and macademia nuts drizzled with balsamic vinagrette. Scrumptious and simple meal.

This recipe is one of estimation and thrown together to suit our taste so I'm recording it here for future references.

Daddy's favorite Crabcakes

1lb fresh lump crab meat
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp plain breadcrumbs
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp Dill (I used dried since we did not have fresh on hand)
2 tbsp mayonnaise [I used fat free]
1 tsp coarse grain mustard
Black pepper, a few turns of the pepper mill
2 tbsp chopped scallions
1 tbsp sweet relish

Mix the above all together and it should look like this.



Now, for the assembly and cooking process. I use as little oil to pan fry these, so I used 2 tbsp canola oil. Heat pan, fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, drop the crab mixture using a 1/3 cup measure into the bowl containing breadcrumbs. Dust to coat evenly and drop it into the frying pan, proceed to do the next piece.

For the sauce, I just made a simple remoulade. I used 2 tbsp mayonaise, 1 tbsp cajun seasoning, 2 tbsp lemon juice, salt-pepper-sugar to taste.

This made 5 cakes for us which was the perfect portion for us, 2 for me and 3 for Mr J [who by the way wiped his plate clean in under 2 minutes]! The final product served with salad, lemon wedges, spicy remoulade and tartar sauce.


Look at him here, posing silly for the camera!


Finally, the cook gets to enjoy her meal. When we moved in to our new house, we decided to put the tv upstairs in the den rather than the living room downstairs as we wanted to deter eating in front of the tv... a year later, see where we're eating! Hopefully when we have children, meal times is at the dining table! I guess it's because we're on the go all day and when we get home and sit to relax, we like to catch up on the news and also with each other so the den upstairs it is.


Anyways, today, it was switching between Nascar [Mr J was so excited as Dale Earnhart Jr. is driving the National Guard car, good thing he won!] and the Democrat presidential campaign. Even though I can't vote, I love watching Obama speak, he is so charismatic.

So that wraps up our Saturday, hope yours were as cosy and relaxing as ours!

Kiam Chye Buoy Recipe

I have been asked by some friends and bloggers alike to share this simple recipe which is one of the available options when dealing with leftover roasts of any kind and being in the theme of the season, the leftover of choice used in this recipe is none other than Turkey!

Word of caution though, the proportion is strictly guess-timation since my mother was giving me instructions over the phone. Also a note for those trying, apparently you’re supposed to boil the aromatics first before putting in the carcass but I was on the way home last night and just told JJ to go ahead and fill up my stock pot with water and drop the turkey it and by the time I got home [1 ½ hours later], I had a flavorful broth going.

Side story though which just makes me shake my head and giggle… for those of you who don’t know my fiancé JJ, he is as ‘white’ as you can get, his father is American and mother is English so whenever I experiment in the kitchen with my Malaysian/Asian cooking, he just scrunches up his nose and chuckles about me cooking my mumbo-jumbo ‘jungle’ cuisine… you’d think having spent a couple of years in the vast Peruvian jungles, he’d know what jungle food is! :)

Anyways, back to the funny story, I tell him to fill up the stock pot with filtered water and drop the turkey in when it starts boiling and before I hung up, I just thought that I better make sure that my instructions were clear and kind of kidded that he should remember to remove the FOIL the turkey was wrapped in… let me just say that lucky thing I said that or else I would have come home to a pot of boiled foil-wrapped carcass! Silly boy!

Alright, back to the recipe;

Kiam Chye Buoy [Hot-Sour-Spicy Mustard Greens Soup]

½ turkey carcass [we don’t eat dark meat so together with half of the body, I included one drumstick and wing, probably totaled 2 pounds]

Aromatics
2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
5 pieces dried tamarind slices [assam keping]
20 dried red chillies
20 cili padi split [because I like it HOT! Feel free to omit or lessen quantity]
Golf ball sized tamarind pulp mixed with 1 cup water, strained and discard seeds and pulp
1 pack preserved mustard

Vegetable
3 lbs of Chinese mustard [not sawi, sure what it’s called in Chinese, I’ll check when I get home tonight], washed thoroughly and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces.
Optional – Leftover ju-hu char [stir fried jicama with cuttlefish]
1 tomato – cut into wedges

Instructions:
1. Fill stock pot till ¾ full with filtered water, boil.
2. Add all aromatics, bring to boil and let simmer for 30 minutes. Taste to ensure sourness level is okay, if not, add more tamarind pulp water.
3. Add carcass and allow to simmer for 1 ½ hours or so.
4. Add saltiness, hotness [with bird’s eye chillies] or sourness [with tamarind pulp water]
5. Add fresh vegetables and simmer till desired tenderness.
6. Enjoy!