SPINACH PORIYAL

The stir fried spinach is my family's favorite vegetable. Using fresh spinach is preferred, it is quite easy to prepare, nutritious and delicious too. If you are not keen to include the grated coconut simply omit it but still taste great. Best served with rice or roti as a side dish.

SPINACH PORIYAL RECIPE

250g fresh spinach chopped fine
4 shallots sliced
4 dry chilli break into pieces
4 tablespoons grated coconut
3 tablespoons moong dal (soak for 30 minutes)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
salt to taste
oil for frying

METHOD

1. Heat the oil, fry the mustard seed, onion, garlic and dry chilli for 3 minutes.

2. Add spinach, mooong dal, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Do not add water.

3. Now add coconut and salt, stir for few more minutes.

4. Remove from  heat. 

GULAI TELUR

After long time we had this Gulai Telur made of hard boiled eggs cooked in coconut milk together with dry chili, coriander seeds and others. You will surely enjoy the gravy as it gives a change from the usual variety of food you eat.

VEGETABLE PULAO

Requested by my son to cook the vegetable pulao taken with spicy tomato chicken. Simple and yummy treat for the day. You can add beans, peas, potato but I'm using carrot because that what I have in stock. Addition of chilli powder and turmeric enhance the taste of this dish but also give a nice colour.

VEGETABLE PULAO

2 cups basmati rice (soak 30 minutes then drain)
1 cup vegetables (bean, carrot, potato) cut
4 tablespoons oil/ghee
2  big onions chopped
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup coriander leaf chopped
1 cup evaporated milk
2 cups water
salt

METHOD

1. Heat oil, add in cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay leaf and onion, fry until light brown.

2. Add ginger, garlic, chilli powder, turmeric and coriander leaves, stir well.

3. Pour in vegetables and little water, cook until slightly soft.

4. Now add the rice, salt, milk and water, when the water is boiling, reduce flame, cover the pot and cook till the rice is done.

5. Sprinkle with coriander leaf at the time of serving.

WHITE BAIT FRITTERS

This dish reminded me of my mum's cooking when I was a small child, made of fresh white bait (ikan bilis nasi), red chilli and flour. If you use the self raising flour, the baking powder should be omitted. Another my favourite side dish serve with hot steaming rice.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup fresh white bait (wash and drain)
2 tablespoons wheat flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg beaten
1 fresh red chilli sliced
4 shallots sliced
2 spring onion or coriander leaves chopped
1/3 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

METHOD

1. Mix all ingredients except oil in a bowl.

2. Heat oil, drop 2 tablespoons of batter and spread it into thin pancake.

3. Turn it over to cook the other side. Drain on absorbent kitchen towel.

4. Continue the process until all the batter is used up.

5. Serve hot with chilli or tomato sauce.

KUIH DADAR

Kuih dadar is similar to crepe, it is stuffed with coconut filling. Before making this you have to prepare the filling, for the batter blend the screwpine (pandan) leaves with water to obtain its colour or else just use green food colouring. Again palm sugar is used to mix with grated coconut, as this one is made of coconut, they do not keep very well, finish them as soon as possible.

KUIH DADAR RECIPE 

1 cup wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cups water
5 blades of pandan leaves (cut)
1 teaspoon sago flour
1 egg
salt
green food colouring

FILLING
1 and 1/2 cups grated coconut
3/4 cups palm sugar
1/2 cup water
1 blade pandan leaves

METHOD

1. Combine all ingredients for filling, cook over low heat till thick, stirring all the time.Cool and keep aside.

2. Blend the cut pandan leaves with water then strain.

3. Sift both flour and salt, add an egg, gradually add water to form a batter with the whisk.

4. Lightly coated the pan with oil, pour the batter to make a thin pancake. Cook until light brown then flip to cook the other side.

5. Remove a piece of pancake onto a plate, place a spoonful of the filling on one end, fold in both sides then roll up.

6. Repeat the same process for the rest of the pancake.

7. Serve immediately.

IKAN PANGGANG SANTAN

This dish is a grilled fish in coconut sauce.  Ikan Panggang Santan is cleaned then grill under a gas or electric one but I used a flat non stick pan to cook both side of the fish. Mullet, bream, snapper and other type of small fish can be used. After preparing the sauce just put in the fish for a few minutes in order to fully absorb the spices. Tightly wrapped the fish with banana leaves if available and grill until the leaves turn brown. Kindly reduce the amount of chili paste to suit your preference.

SERI MUKA JAGUNG

Seri Muka Jagung is a traditional kuih consisting of two layers, below one made of glutinous rice while the top is the egg custard with addition of sweet kernel corn. When steaming the top layer do cover it with aluminium foil to avoid water dripping from the steamer. It is advisable to soak the glutinous to obtain properly cooked rice and not grainy.

CORNFLAKES COOKIES

Baked this Cornflakes Cookies using crushed cornflakes. It's very crunchy, great taste and sure to please anyone who loves mild sweet biscuit. Most importantly use fresh stock of cornflakes to obtain good result.

KUIH KASWI

Kuih kaswi or kasui is a traditional kuih made of wheat flour, tapioca flour and palm sugar (gula Melaka). It's very fragrant and sticky soft. The authentic taste can only be obtained if palm sugar is used. In case this is not available you can use brown sugar instead but add a drop of sarsaparilla brown food color  to get darker tone. You can also use round pan of 8 inches diameter to steam then cut into bite sizes.

SAMBAL SOTONG

My family loved spicy food so cooked the sambal sotong to be served with white rice or nasi lemak. Quite simple recipe with minimum ingredients yet tasty.

SAVOURY PANCAKE

Another favorite recipe of my family, the savory pancake is very versatile since you can add whatever you fancy such as chicken, sausage and vegetables. Do take care when adding the water, the batter should not be too thick nor runny in order to get perfect pancake. This recipe is eggless,very healthy and used minimum amount of oil just to coat the pan. Actually I applied oil for the first one, skip the oil for the rest.

KOLEH KOLEH

This is a traditional kuih made of green bean flour, coconut milk and sugar. In the olden days, the flour has to be prepared from scratch but now it's easily obtainable from the supermarket or bakery outlet. Before cooking this tasty  Koleh Koleh ,  you have to prepare the coconut crumbs (tahi minyak), sugar syrup then only you can proceed in making this kuih.

LONGAN TEA

This longan tea is subtly sweet, warm in nature and a favorite in boosting energy level.   It is made with dried longan, brown sugar, ginger and tea leaves.

 Longan contains niacin which aids metabolism, keep the digestive system healthy,  very soothing and calming effect on the nerves. The dried longan is  obtainable from chinese medicall hall.

In case the pandan leaves are not available, do omit them since these are for fragrance only.

FISH CURRY

Cooked this favourite dish to be taken with naan. This Fish Curry is free from coconut milk but tasted wonderful. The chili powder can be adjusted to suit your taste but mine very spicy and tangy, the way my family like it. If you want thicker gravy add less water, best eaten with plain rice, naan, prata or even dosa.

BUBUR KELEDEK

This dessert is made of sweet potato, coconut milk and sugar. Quite easy to prepare and the variations are endless, you can use yam, green beans, tapioca, red bean and many more instead of sweet potato.

KUIH ROSE

A traditional kuih of South East Asian, made of rice flour, wheat flour and coconut milk. It is so crunchy and delicious. You need a special mould to prepare this fried snack. First the brass mould  is heated in hot oil before dipping  into the batter then drop into hot oil. It has mild sweet taste, need patience to prepare since you have to fry it individually but very addictive.

INGREDIENTS

100g rice flour
100g wheat flour
50g sugar
175ml coconut milk
1 egg
salt
oil for frying
brass mould

METHOD

1. Whisk sugar and coconut milk until sugar has dissolved.

2. Add an egg, beat until well blended. Strain the batter.

3. Put in sifted flour, mix well. If too thick add more water.

4. Heat the oil, put in the mould to heat up. Remove the mould from oil and dip into the batter.

5. Drop the coated mould into hot oil. Shake to remove from the mould. If not you can use skewer to  remove.

6. Fry until golden brown, remove from pan and drain on absorbent kitchen towel.

7. Store in airtight containers.

MY TRICK

A) For easy removal, dip batter to coat only up to 3/4 sides of the mould not all.

B) Use medium heat to ensure uniform cooking and avoid it to turn dark color.

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ASAM PEDAS

Asam pedas is one of 'must have' dishes in every Malay household. The gravy is very spicy and a bit sour in taste. Using blended dry chili, tamarind juice and fish such as stingray, snapper, mackerel or threadfin as its ingredient. Best served with plain rice or even with bread.

EASY FRUIT CAKE

Baked this  EASY FRUIT CAKE long time ago. You do not need a special gadget to prepare just use a whisk would be fine because this cake will not rise much since. it's not  a  soft and fluffy type using dried fruit in the recipe. Simply superb if served with a cup of tea.

NASI LEMAK

Nasi lemak or coconut milk rice is normally served at breakfast together with sambal tumis, ikan bilis (fried anchovy), fried fish or fried chicken, egg and cucumber. But one thing to note, you can't eat them regularly since it is high in cholesterol. As time goes this dish is so famous in Singapore and Malaysia, enjoyed by all races, readily available throughout the day even in shopping malls, the accompaniment also multiply that include rendang, sambal sotong (squid cooked in chili), otak-otak and many more, you are spoilt for choice.

BREAD CRUMB COOKIES

Don't know what to do with leftover bread? This my idea, toast or bake the bread without oil until crispy, break into small pieces and grind it. Your bread crumb is ready to be used as a coating, topping or thickener,  money saver too. It is easily turned into a crunchy and irresistible cookies enjoyed by whole family like this Bread Crumb Cookies.

Kids love to bake cookies. Young kids can practice to measure out ingredients used and stirring them. So tag them along when baking, it is a great learning experience and let them understand the basic kitchen rules.