BOTTLE GOURD W/DAL

This is also called lauki/sorakaya. Had tasted this when we went to Indian vegetarian restaurant, since then I felt in love with this dish. It is healthy but not so spicy and has slightly tangy taste.

It goes well with capati or hot steaming rice. The spices used are according to my taste but adjustable to your requirement and this is my way of cooking the bottle gourd. What you need are:


INGREDIENTS

2 cups bottle gourd cubed
1/2 cup toor dhal boiled
5 shallots sliced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
5 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon mustard seed
2 T cooking oil
curry leaves
pinch of asafoetida
2 T tamarind paste
water
salt

METHOD

* Cook bottle gourd with water, turmeric and salt until soft.

* Heat the oil, fry cumin, mustard seed, asafoetida and curry leaves until it crackles.

* Add onion, garlic and chili powder, stir for few minutes. Add tamarind juice, bring to boil.

* Now add the dhal, bottle gourd and salt if required, simmer for few minutes.

* Serve hot.

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MIXED FLOUR PANCAKE

My son is a great fan of pancake especially when taken with curry or sambar (lentil with vegetable). Have tried pancake with oat, savoury as well as sweet variety, now using wheat flour, rice flour and whole wheat flour together with chopped onion. Pretty quick to prepare and tasted great. We enjoyed eating them with sambar and tomato chutney.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 big onion chopped (optional)
salt to taste
water
cooking oil

METHOD

* Combine together wheat flour, rice flour, whole wheat flour, coriander leaves. onion, cumin and salt.

* Gradually add water to obtain thin batter, mix well. The consistency is slightly thinner than evaporated milk.

* Pour a teaspoon of oil, then pour a ladleful of butter. Once the top looks dry, flip and cook the other side. Remove and stack on a plate.

* Continue with the rest of the batter.

* Serve hot.

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LEPAT PISANG

For very long time I have eaten this  Lepat Pisang a traditional kuih of Malaysia/Singapore, made of bananas and wheat flour. If you have over ripe bananas you should try this, simple and healthy. Normally they are wrapped in banana leaf but I'm using small cups instead.

If you want more healthier version use 2 tablespoons milk powder instead of coconut milk, the rest just follow the recipe below  and steam for 25 minutes.  Adjust the sugar according to your taste.

EGGLESS FRUIT CAKE

My sons are having late nights watching World Cup 2010 so they need tidbit while watching their favorite game.

After searching the net, stumbled upon this Eggless Fruit Cake , it's very easy to prepare and what you need is a pan or pot to boil the ingredients. The cake came out perfect and not very sweet, the way I love it. If you want to try, here is the recipe:

TOMATO CHICKEN II

This is the gravy I have cooked to go along with the tomato rice posted earlier. It's semi dry dish, a bit spicy and tasted wonderful with the rice. Kindly adjust the spice level to your liking.

If you are using the concentrated tomato puree, do adjust the quantity since it is more tangy than the liquid tomato puree I have used here.

CHAPATI (INDIAN FLAT BREAD)

My friend Nina has requested a recipe for chapati. She used to go all the way to Little India once in a week just to enjoy it.

Hope she will try to make her own successfully. Just be cautious with water, add gradually to form a soft and pliable dough. This flat bread is best eaten hot with keema (spicy minced meat with vegetable), spicy thick curry or lentil gravy. Don't worry if you couldn't get the perfect round shape, for good results use heavy cast iron pan, it distributes heat evenly and produces beautiful color. Happy cooking.


INGREDIENTS

2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 - 1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon oil
extra flour for dusting
ghee to apply on top (optional)

METHOD

* Place the flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl.

* Gradually add the water, need not to use all, knead well to form into pliable dough, keep for one hour.

* Divide dough into 4 ball. Using rolling pin form into circle about 1/8 inch thick.

* Heat the cast iron pan, fry until brown spot appears then flip and cook the other side. Flip again, press the edges with clean towel, the chapati will begin to puff up. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough.

* Remove and apply ghee if required.





If you want to try Keema follow this link:
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com/2009/11/keema.html

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BINGKA TEPUNG BERAS

This is another traditional kuih of Malaysia/Singapore, made of rice flour, coconut milk and sugar.  Bingka Tepung Beras  is normally served either for breakfast or after completing your meal as dessert.

In the olden days, fresh coconut is used for making this dessert but now ready made coconut milk is being used.

Almost forgotten, this  Bingka Tepung Beras is hardly on sale unlike kuih bakar (similar preparation) which is made of wheat flour is easily obtainable from food stalls around the country.

For more information about pandan leaves, do check out this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandanus_amaryllifolius

FISH VINDALOO

After searching through the net about  Fish Vindaloo , I came across few versions of making this dish, one with tamarind and another one without.

Tried this  Fish Vindaloo with tamarind and it turns out slightly darker tone compared with the other style. Overall it has tangy and spicy taste and not so overpowering with vinegar, my family loved them so much.

This is what I have used, you could adjust the quantity of chili and vinegar according to your taste. After all cooking is about experimenting and getting the taste right to our taste bud. If you want to try, here is the recipe :

SUGAR COOKIES

For some time I didn't bake any cookies, so i tried this simple recipe and it turns out to be not overly sweet and easy to prepare. This is just the basic dough but you could add nuts, chocolates or dried fruit and decorate according to your style.

I'm using the cookies cutter and sprinkle the chocolate rice on top, lightly press so the chocolate will stick to the cookies.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon milk
chocolate rice for garnish

METHOD

* Sift flour and baking powder.

* Cream butter and sugar until creamy, add baking powder and vanilla essence.

* Now add butter mixture with flour and milk, form into pliable dough.

* Shape the dough using cookies cutter or roll into small ball then flatten. Preheat oven @ 170 C.

* Decorate cookies with chocolate rice and bake for 10-15 minutes . Remove from pan after 5 minutes and cool on wire rack.

* Store in an airtight container once it is completely cool.

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TOMATO RICE II

There are so many ways to cook tomato rice but my choice goes to this recipe, simply fantastic.

When using tomato puree make sure you taste first before adding since certain brands are fully concentrated and adding too much will make the rice overly sour and spoil the taste of this yummy rice..

You could use basmati rice but that requires soaking  for about 30 minutes before hand. The water level should be 1 inch above the rice. Let's cook...

INGREDIENTS

2 cups long grain rice/basmati
2 green chili slit
1 onion chopped
1/2  cup  tomato puree
1/2  tablespoon  ginger garlic paste
1/2  tablespoon  chili powder
4   tablespoon  butter or oil
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 T chopped coriander leaves
1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamoms
salt to taste
4  cup  water

METHOD

* Heat the oil, fry cinnamon, cardamom and onion until light brown. Add ginger garlic paste, green chili and coriander leaves, cook until fragrant.

* Now add the tomato puree, chili powder, turmeric and salt, stir until well blended.

* Transfer this onto rice cooker, add rice and required water to cook the rice, on the switch.

* Rice is ready to eat with your favorite curry. Enjoy!

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HOMEMADE TUNA PIZZA

After my successful trial on baking pizza, baked this using the same dough but now topped it with tuna. I made them spicy, spreading the mayonnaise on top, done without mozzarella cheese since I don't have any at the moment.

My family truly enjoyed eating them. Tasted great, won't be buying the ready made pizza in future. If you wish to try my version here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

Pizza dough kindly refer here.

TOPPING
1 can (185g) tuna in water drained
2 tablespoons chili paste
1 onion sliced
1 tomato chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
lemon juice
salt to taste

TO SPRINKLE ON TOP
6 T tomato sauce
3 fresh tomatoes sliced
2 big onion sliced
5 T mayonnaise/cheese

METHOD

* Heat the oil, fry onion and garlic until fragrant, add tomato and salt, cook until tomato turns soft.

* Now add chili powder, stir for few minutes, add tuna and stir well.

* Just before removing from heat, squeeze the lemon juice and add more salt if needed. Cool.

* Preheat oven @ 200 C. Roll out dough into 4 pizza and place onto baking pan. Rest for 30 minutes.

* Spread evenly each pizza with tomato sauce, sprinkle the tuna, followed by onion then tomato. Lastly spread mayonnaise/cheese  on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

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PUMPKIN CURRY AND SPECIAL CARDS

This is one of my favorite vegetables. It has slightly sweet coupled with spicy and tangy taste. Since the skin is very tough, I just scrap it lightly without removing the peel. You have to take care not to boil the pumpkin for a long time since it turns soft quite fast. Absolutely delicious, great to serve with rice, chapati or naan.

MEE GORENG II

We had a change of plan, I was supposedly not cooking today since my children are away but got a call that their original plans were cancelled and was requested to cook something fast and easy.

Immediately went to my kitchen and checked what I have in my fridge. Cooked this  Mee Goreng II without usual meat, seafood and vegetable.

 Surprisingly turned out delicious and received compliments from my children. Really happy to see it gone in no time.

PUMPKIN CAKE

Went to market recently and spotted some nice and fresh pumpkins off the shelves, bought them hastily. Besides serving the pumpkin as side dish, I baked  this Pumpkin  Cake out of it. It turns out yummy and my family love them so much. If fresh pumpkin is unavailable, use canned pumpkin instead. Here is the recipe:

BOMBAY CURRY CHICKEN

After going through my recipe file, this Bombay Curry Chicken  caught my attention. I presume, there is no other simpler way to cook the chicken but despite the easy method, the gravy is  full of wonderful flavor.

What you need to do is to mix the spices and let it comes to boil then add the chicken, simmer until the chicken turns soft. The only change I made is to add more chili powder since it is not spicy enough. It turns out marvelous, best taken with rice or bread.