BRINJAL CURRY

My sons are not keen to eat any dish containing brinjal so I seldom cook them. Normally will add  Brinjal Curry when cooking fish curry or sambar, that also I'm the only one to complete this veggie.After much persuasion, they agreed to take a bite.

To my surprise they completed the whole plate of my Brinjal Curry, this means they really liked my preparation and wish to share with you how to cook them. Do adjust the red chili used as per your requirement.

PUMPKIN BREAD

My son  requested to make a  Pumpkin Bread  since I have baked it quite a long time ago. For this recipe you need not use any coloring, the color of the pumpkin is just right, beautiful bright yellow.

Either use canned pumpkin puree or make your own, just steamed mine for a few minutes and mashed. It is difficult to remove the skin, just steam with the skin then scoop out the flesh.

BANANA BREAD, EGGLESS

It's a pity to see the ripened banana sitting in my fridge for few days. Upon seeing this, decided to make use all of them using my newly created recipe.

I would say, this is really healthy using just minimum amount of oil combined with chopped nut and banana. It has mild sweet taste and perfect for breakfast or tea time snack. Really amazed to see that without egg, this bread turns out so moist.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour
4 medium size banana mashed
1/4 cup chopped nut
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 160 C. Grease the loaf pan.

* Sift flour, salt and baking soda.

* In a separate bowl, combine together banana, nut, oil, sugar and milk until well blended.

* Now add banana mixture to the dry ingredients, mix until just combined, add vanilla essence.

* Pour onto greased loaf pan, bake for 30 minutes @ 160 C then lower to 150 C and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

* Cool in the pan 10 minutes, transfer onto wire rack.

* When completely cool, slice to serve.

Have a great weekend!

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NAGASARI (STEAMED DESSERT) AND AN AWARD

Nagasari (Steamed Dessert)  is my favorite traditional kuih of South East Asia. Normally it is wrapped in banana leaves but now I am using plastic sheet to cover them.

The mixture of rice flour, corn starch, coconut milk, sugar and salt is pre-cooked until thickened on stove top then complete the process by steaming them.  Nagasari (Steamed Dessert)  can also be served cold if you want. The recipe below yields 9 pieces. Let's cook this easy dessert.

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.

Linking to  HEMC 52 - Homemade Pizza

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.

WHITE AND RED PORRIDGE

This porridge is a traditional one prepared for special occasion such as the birth of a baby, passing an exam or promotion at work. It is made of rice or glutinous rice and had two different colors hence its name.

The white is obtained by adding the coconut milk and salt then separated. Palm or brown sugar is added to the balance of the porridge. When serving the white portion is dotted on top of the red. This tradition is almost forgotten since the younger generation prefer other dessert to mark their special moment.

INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 cups glutinous rice (soak 30 minutes)
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup palm sugar
1 pandan leaf knotted
salt to taste
water

METHOD

* Put the glutinous rice, water, pandan leaf and salt in a pot. Boil until rice turns soft.

* Now add the coconut milk, stir until boiling. Remove about 1/2 cup of the porridge.

* Boil palm sugar with some water, strain.Now add the sugar syrup to the balance and stir well. Remove from heat.

* Place a ladleful of red colored porridge and dot on top with the white portion.

SESAME AND OAT COOKIES AND BEAUTIFUL CARDS

Since we are nearing the end of the week, baked this melt in the mouth cookies which is not so sweet and tasted great. Added rolled oat and black sesame seed for this recipe, really perfect combo, contains goodness of oat and sesame seed.

The dough is too soft to handle but managed to roll them into small ball. You can refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to make it firmer.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup rolled oat
5 tablespoons black sesame

METHOD

* Sift flour and baking powder, add rolled oat and sesame seed, mix well.

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

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

* Shape the dough into small ball then flatten and place onto baking pan. Preheat oven @ 170 C.

* 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.

CARD

My blogger friend, Priya Prashanth has sent this beautiful card to mark her 250th post. Thanks for sharing this with me. Keep posting dear..



Thanks to Sanyukta Gour for sharing this on completing her first month of blogging, really admire your creativity!

BEST PIZZA DOUGH

Pizza is one of favorite foods loved by young and old. Today it is available around the clock in shopping malls and popular food joint including home delivery not to mention in supermarket too.

But nothing can beat home made pizza where you could add whatever topping, sauces and cheese tailored to our taste.

The recipe below yields 6 mini pizza, the crust is fantastic, much better than the store bought, really beautiful crust with perfect crunch. So far this is the best pizza base I ever cooked.

PULUT SERIKAYA

This is two layered traditional dessert from  Malaysia/Singapore made of glutinous rice and topped with green custard.

Instead of steaming the sticky rice, I used a rice cooker to do the job. For health reasons use only water but you could use coconut milk to cook the rice. For the top layer, blend pandan leaves with water to extract juice but if unavailable just add a drop of green food colouring. It's eggless too but you could add an egg to the custard if you wish.For more information about screwpine leaves, go through this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandanus_amaryllifolius

INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 cups glutinous rice soak 1 hour
1 and 1/2 cups water of coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

CUSTARD

3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup corn flour
8 tablespoons sugar
1 and 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup pandan juice (blend 3 pandan leaves with water)
1 egg (optional)
green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

* Wash and drain the rice. Put the rice, water and salt into the rice cooker and let it cook.

* Transfer the rice onto greased shallow 8 inches tray and press with spatula to level top.

* Heat the steamer and bring the water to boil. Heat the glutinous rice, scratch top with fork.

* Add all ingredients for custard and strain. Pour this on top of the cooked rice, steam for 20 minutes with medium heat. Recommended to cover the lid with clean towel to avoid water dripping.

* Cool for 3-4 hours before cutting.

CURRY BUN

I used to buy  Curry Bun from a nearby bakery. This is one of my son's favorite bread.

It is stuffed with potato but it could be too spicy and may not cater to those who can't take hot stuff.

When baking this, I made sure they turn out extra spicy. My son really loved this  Curry Bun and I would be baking more often for his sake. Besides potato, you could use chicken or meat for a change.

WAJIK

I'm craving for wajik (sweetened palm sugar glutinous rice pudding) now. This is a traditional festival sweet my mum used to make.

The process of making this kuih, first you have to cook the glutinous rice either by steaming or use rice cooker which is simplest and safest method, can't go wrong, just dump the rice in the cooker it will do the rest.

 Secondly prepare the sugar and coconut milk syrup until it thickens, and that requires constant stirring. Only then the cooked glutinous rice is added. What I have used here is low fat coconut milk but feel free to use normal ones.

Another item is screwpine leaves that was used but if unavailable you could omit this since the leaves are for fragrance only.

RED BEAN BUNS

After successful attempts with bread making, love to share this beautiful Red Bean Buns  which is stuffed with red bean paste. Other fillings such as chocolate, custard or kaya would be the best alternative.

The method of preparation is almost the same as my earlier post except the dough is rolled into oval shaped, stuffing the filling on one end while the other end is cut into thin strips then roll it up and bend upwards. To get the idea how this forms, please look at the photo below.

VERMICELLI KESARI

This is the famous North/South Indian dessert using vermicelli. For those unfamiliar with this, please see the attached photo below which is easily obtainable from any Indian shop. I have made it with milk for a creamier and richer taste but it could be done with just water. Another adjustment is the amount of sugar used, do add more if you have sweet tooth and fry the nuts and raisin in cooking oil not ghee (clarified butter). It tasted excellent with just right amount of sweetness. This recipe is a keeper, would definitely cook again.



INGREDIENTS

1 cup vermicelli
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon butter
i tablespoon broken cashew or almond
1 tablespoon raisin
a pinch of cardamom powder
yellow food coloring



METHOD

* Heat the oil and fry the nuts and raisin, remove and keep aside. With same oil fry the vermicelli until light brown, remove.

* In the same pan, add water and milk, bring to a boil then add the vermicelli, keep stirring until vermicelli turns soft.

* Add coloring, cardamom and sugar, stir until thicken. Put in the raisin and nut.

* Transfer onto shallow tray to set. Serve warm.

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OATMEAL CHOCOLATE COOKIES

After repeated requests by my son, I'm going to show how to bake this healthy cookies using vegetable oil and not overly sweet like other recipes found on net. They are really great to work with and turn out chewy and marvelous, you can's stop eating them, very addictive indeed.

Grind half of the rolled oat and the balance used as it is, next time would try with other combination such as dried cranberries, coconut and fruit. Do not over bake, once it turns light brown, remove from the oven and let the cookies sit in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

SPICY FISH IN COCONUT MILK

Fish is always my family's favorite food, especially if it is simmered in hot and spicy gravy like this one. For a long time I have not cooked this dish, so my son requested to prepare the fish using bird's eye chili. Preferably selecting less bony fish if you are feeding small children and it turns out very spicy but delicious. One could fry the fish first or simply cook in gravy - either way it is superb.

INGREDIENTS

4-5 slices fish
15 bird's eye chili (adjust to your taste)
1 cup coconut milk
1 and 1/2 cup water
1 inch fresh turmeric root
1 medium lime obtain the juice
2 lemon grass bruised
salt

METHOD

1. Wash the fish with lemon juice, drain.

2. Blend together bird's eye chili and turmeric with some water.

3. Pour water, coconut milk, blended ingredients, lemon grass and salt in a pot. Stir until boiling.

4. Slide in the fish and bring to boil until fish is cooked.

5. Remove from heat, add lime juice and it is ready to eat.

RAISIN AND OATMEAL BUN

Back in action,  playing  with my dough again, this time around using oat and raisin, can't believe my eyes how this Raisin and Oatmeal Bun  really swelled from the original size once I have baked them. 

Although you could use the yeast mixture after 10 minutes, I let the yeast sit for an hour then mix the dough. Another tip is to let the dough ferment longer and by doing that the bread turns softer and fluffier.

Trust me, it's worth making, Raisin Oatmeal Bun turns out wonderful and great to dip with a cuppa.  What you need are:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BEAUTY PRODUCTS AND SPECIAL CARDS

We spend a enormous amount of money on beauty products just to look pretty. How many of us know that there are simple homemade solutions that are available from your own kitchen. Give it a try religiously but one can't expect changes just by trying it out once but definitely you will see miracles if you apply it daily.

The most significant advantages of using the homemade products are that they are inexpensive, easily obtainable from your kitchen and allergy free, made from natural resources, totally no chemical is used and fresh, no worries about the shelf life of the product. There are several commercially-made beauty products that often do more harm than good, causing allergic reaction.

You'll find more details about how to make your own beauty products from this video. Will share a lot more beauty secrets in my next entry. If you want to know more about candle nut, check out this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_nut

CARD

Happy Mother's Day to all and have a great weekend to celebrate this special occasion. Thanks to ELLY for sending this beautiful card for Mother's Day.



Another one received from Love2Cook, thanks dear..

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