I'm almost to embarassed to put any pictures in this post, but the recipe is too good to not share. Courtesy of KakNor@secubit garam- here
But to avoid the plainess, I'll put a picture or two- just for the pleasure of laughing at them once I actually master making food presentable.


The method used is very good, especially in cold weather. would definately make this again, hopefully next time with better presantable results.



Ingredients:
380g bread flour
3 tbsp milk powder
80g castor sugar
3 tsp yeast
1 egg
100ml warm water
100g water roux ( *see here)
1/2 tsp salt
30 g butter
30 g shortening ( used vege oil)

Method:

1. in a bowl, combine yeast, a little bit of the sugar, 2 tbsp of milk and the 100ml water- set aside and allow to bubble and rise.
2. in another bowl, combine flour, milk powder, salt and sugar - mix
3. add in the egg- lightly beaten and the water roux - mix well then add in no 1
4. once a dough in formed, gradually add in the butter and shortening bit by bit - allow to knead for approx 10 min.
5. cover and leave to prove until double in size.
6. once risen, punch down the dough and divide into 20 balls. leave to rest for 15 minutes.
7. flatten the balls and roll into finger shaped buns. arrange in a tray and allow to rise again until double the size.
8. for the strawberry topping- don't take my word for it- take it from the original recipe.
9. bake for 20-25 minutes in a 180C oven. spread the top with butter once cooked to give a shiny look.

Mee rojak, or loosely translated as mixed noodles is a common dish back home. it is synonymous with the rojak truck parked by the road side, with long lines around lunch or tea time and is almost always is sold next to the ABC truck.


As usual, when it comes to these kinds of food, I don't have a proper recipe, but I did try my best to get the measurement as accurate as possible. I don't have one single source for this recipe but rather put together a little bit from one place, and a little bit from another.

The good thing about mee rojak is that you don't need a lot of one thing to make it work. A little bit of everything is fine, which is an extremely good thing when food stocks are running low in the kitchen- and you get so much in the end!

Almost anything can be used to put this rojak together- it's almost like a salad, only half the ingredients are fried, and only the other half are fresh.

Some of the common things used include:

• egg noodles (i obviously used spaggetti!)
• boiled eggs
• blanched spinach
• roughly cut cucumber
• roughly cut radish (of sengkuang if you can find it)
• fried potato wedges
• fried tauhu
• fried tempe
• fried crispy dough balls (jemput2 ranggup)
• fish crackers? - keropok ikan
  

The sweet and spicy peanut sauce is the key element in binding everything together to make a rojak.

For the sweet and spicy peanut sauce, i tried to make it as simple as possible:
3 tbsp chili boh
1 1/2 cup ground peanuts
4-6 tbsp dark brown sugar (originally- unrefined cane sugar/ gula melaka)
400mls water
salt to taste

method:

1. heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan. fry the chili boh for about 2-3 minutes. add in the peanuts.
2. add the water and leave to boil.
3. gradually add in salt and sugar, tasting at intervals. it is meant to be slightly sweet.
4. if too thick, slowly add more water. leave to boil for 5 minutes.

tip: you can go through the trouble of roasting peanuts, removing the skin and grinding them, or... you can use one of my favorite cheats- use roasted salted peanuts straight from the bag- although you might want to boil them in water first then blending them till they resemble ground peanuts soaked in water. also, lessen salt as the peanuts are already salted.



For the crispy dough balls (jemput2 ranggup)
200gm plain flour
1 tsp yeast
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
warm water- add gradually just enough to bind mixture into a thick paste

method:

1. add all into a bowl and cover with cling film.
2. allow to rise for 1 hour- don't mix as this will push all the air out
3. fry spoonfuls of the dough in hot oil until golden brown and cut in half or quaters (bite sizes)

My mother-in-law recently visited us here in uk and wanted to make kuih koci - a traditional malay dessert, but I did not have a steamer. So when she went to Asda, she got me one. Now that I have a steamer, I have no reason not to make 'steamed food'.


The thing with Pau, or also known as steamed buns, is that I have always thought that it requires a special type of flour. And it does!

But there is definately no reason to try other wise. Instead of using Hong Kong Flour (i have no idea what the difference is to tell you the truth), i used plain white flour. Guess what! It turned out anyway. although it didn't turn out as white as the usual Pau's sold in shops, it was still soft and fluffy.


Ingredients:
For the Dough:
240g Hong Kong Flour (here i used plain white flour)
1 tsp baking powder
25g vegetable fat (I used vegetable oil)
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
100mls warm water
30g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vineger

Method:

1. sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the yeast and salt and mix. add in the vegetable fat and rub together until it resembles bread crumbs.
2. in a seperate bowl, mix together water, sugar and vinegar and mix until combined.
3. turn on the mixer (using a dough hook) and slowly add the water mixture. continue mixing until it binds forms a soft dough ball.
4. remove from mixer and knead for a short while by hand. place in a greased bowl and allow to rise until double the original size. once risen, punch down to remove air and devide into 10 small balls (approx- 40gm each). knead into balls and flatten on palm. (although here i rolled out the balls into flat circles because it was easier to gather later on)
5. fill with 1-2 tbspn of filling and gather the edges, reforming a well shaped ball.
6. place on a greaseproof paper square and allow to rest for 20-30min. mean while, prepare the steamer to ensure it is very hot before steaming the buns.
7. steam the buns for approximately 12 minute.

for the filling, I made a sardine sambal using
- onions
- garlic
- sardine in tomato sauce
- chili boh
- fresh corriander
- curry powder
- seasoning

but you can use any type of filling, savory or sweet.

I really2 need to work on making the buns more presentable and will definately make this again!

I absolutely love this recipe. (what a way to start an entry!)

So far, it's turned out well and I have made this bread about 3 times in a row, if i'm not mistaken.




I got the recipe from here, as usual another great recipe from cik mat gebu!



Ingredients
400 g bread flour
100 g Hong Kong flour- no idea what it is so I followed mat gebu and used plain flour
250 ml water
50 g milk powder
180 g brown sugar
3/4 egg, beaten - not in the original recipe
100 g butter
11 g instant yeast
1 tsp vanilla essence
a few drops of yellow food colouring

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, expect the butter. Mix until well blended and knead to form dough. Add butter, a little at a time until well mixed and an eleastic dough has formed.
2. Form the dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave to prove until twice the size.
3. Punch down the risen dough and divide it into 16 equal pieces. (the easiest way is to divide the dough into 4, and then divide each portion into 4 again). Form well shaped balls and arrange in a well greased tin. Cover and prove again till well risen.
4. Bake in a preheated oven @ 190C for 15-20 min.
5. Brush butter over the bread as soon as the bread is taken out of the oven and leave to cool on cooling rack.

No need for a review, as the first sentence says it all!
however I did add 3/4 of an egg, beaten, and used the othe 1/4 of the egg for glazing.

next: i'd love to try a bread recipe using water roux.

the recipe is the same as the one i shared, a few entries back. (this one)
I felt the bread was slightly denser then i expected. I previously thought that it was the wholemeal flour when i first made it. Now it's down to either my own inexperience or the recipe itself.



I feel it is still a good recipe and with a bit of practise, I could get it to work. So off I go again to the kitchen!

My sister loves to cook and then upload all her photos on facebook. The thing with the photos is that they make me want to cook the same thing too.I guess that's the whole point anyway.



Lately she's been making bread quite a lot (that is before her mixer went kapuuut!). So I asked her for some advice on making bread and she directed me to some good recipes.
From reading through many recipes, I understand that you need to use strong white/wholemeal bread flour to make good bread. I think it helps to give the dough an elastic quality, if I'm not mistaken.




The original recipe for this bread, I got this from Dapur Suzi's page, who got the recipe from Mamafami.
Their photos look so much better, and their bread looks so much softer. But as this was my first ever try, I don't think I did that bad.



Also, instead of white flour, I used wholemeal flour, which might account for the bread being slightly denser than expected... also more filling though.

I tried to make a five plait bread from the same dough after watching it on a show called Bake by Rachel Allen. I don't know if I got it right but if I'm not mistaken, it should go "1 over 3, 2 over 3, 5 over 2". If I am wrong, do correct me.



Ingredients:
700g high protein flour - I used wholemeal bread flour
50g shortening - I used vegetable oil
200g lukewarm water
200g evaporated milk (I used fresh milk- simialr to Mamafami)
100g castor sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 packet instant yeast (11g) - 1 and a half packets of the standard instant yeast packets here in UK
2 egg
a bit of margarine

Method: (as per Mamafami's blog)
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Add in yeast, sugar, salt and eggs. On the mixer.
2. Pour in evaporated milk and lukewarm water a bit at a time until just mixed.
3. Add in the shortening and continue kneading till a soft and smooth dough is formed. Add more water if needed.
4. Make into one round ball and leave to prove till double the size.
5. Punch down the dough to release air and make into small balls. Arrange in a greased pan and let it prove again till double the size.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Once out of the oven, brush the top with margarine. Serve with curry or serikaya or jam or whatever to your likings.

This raya, since I'm (almost) totally free, I decided to bake, bake and bake Raya cookies. Sort of a revenge over not being able to bake cookies last Raya.

In total, I made 5 different types.

1. toll house cookies
2. mak's chocolate chip cookies
3. pineapple tart
4. melting moments
5. chequerboard cookies

recently discovered that pandan flavour @ in English apparently pandanus flavour in Thai is

so, if you are ever overseas where you cannot find pandan essence easily i.e. Sheffield, Dublin, just to name a few places; look to your nearest asian food specialist store and ask for

made buah melaka for iftar last sunday.

apparently, 'green' natural food colouring is not 'GREEN'. it's a pretty apple green before being cooked, but turns more yellowish once boiled.

buah melaka is very simple and a good dessert or snack to make in a hurry.

1 year since last update.

I'll just put up some pictures.


Made Popiah to bring to the neighbours for iftar.

ada orang panggil cucur.. kitorang kat rumah panggil jemput2 udang. mungkin sebab memang di jemput2 dgn tangan (bila mak wat) bila nak masuk dlm minyak agaknya.

dah lama xwat sb xrajin nak goreng. the 'lazy' part for making jemput2 is the frying part, the best part ironically is eating it hot and straight from the frying pan while waiting for finish frying the rest.

ada macam2 cara nak wat, ada orang masuk semua dlm blender, ada orang letak baking powder, ada orang pakai self raising flour. but i find that the way that works for me is using mummy's recipe and method. ada orang wat jadi leper2, ada yg lembut masa panas tp bila sejuk keras skit.. macam2 gaya. tapi saya suka bila lembut and gebu and xkan meleper walaupun da sejuk.

ingredients:
tepung biasa
bawang
udang kopek dah potong2
chili merah potong2
corriender (optional.. letak jer klu ada bg menarik skit)
telur
garam
air

cara2:
masuk kan semua bahan dalam mangkuk kecuali air
masuk kan air sket2 supaya xterlebih, sambil2 tu kacau pelan2
jgn terlebih kacau, kacau sekadar tepung dan air tergaul
pastu jemput2 kan ke dalam minyak panas da goreng until golden brown.

hidang dgn sos chili atau sos tomato

i'm really bad at writting out my own recipes huhu...

daging paprik dengan sayur carrot dan kacang panjang hidang dengan nasi panas.. mmmm

(penangan lama xmakan nasi panas dan daging)

i made 'lazy' soto a few days back.. because i was alone at home, so i didn't really bother to go out and look for things to make it a complete soto. instead, i just made tha nasi impit, soup and kicap chili (total laziness) plus just so it's more soto then just 'clumped rice with chicken soup'.. i decided to make begedil.
beware that the pic is really horrid and looks no where near mouthwatering.
my sis always make the begedil when we have soto at home. she's the best at it, that's what i think. it tastes so much better then store begedil which are usually stingy on meat and spices.
so.. begedil recipe:

potatoes - boiled or fried enough so you can mash them
minceed beef
onions
salt and pepper
cumin (jintan putih and/or manis )
fry all the above in a little oil (besides the potatoes) and once cooked, mix with the mashed potatoes.
mix well and make small patties.
dip briedfly in egg (beaten) and shallow fry in pan.

they usually finsh fast cause people just tend to eat them like that!

After spending a week in Cavan (>2hours away from dublin) and not really being able to eat food that suits my taste buds, i came home to dublin with the urge to cook malay food best eaten hot and soupy.
On saturday, i made MEE REBUS but i used rempah ADAMI so it was nothing really special.
On sunday, i was conflicted between making mee lakna or mee kari. After a lot of pondering back and forth, and a lot of discussion involving the word 'malas' with pojie (in which i was scolded consistently for using the word malas- and seriously, i debate about food with my husband), i finally decided to make mee kari, just because i had never made it before.
I found this recipe on mesra.net (good source for trying out new things) called MEE KARI PIKAT SUAMI... funny name for a mee kari, but it seemed the simplest of all recipes found under mee kari. this is the link: http://resepi.mesra.net/Detailed/10399.shtml
it only got 3 stars but the others aren't as simple. i don't know if it will 'pikat suami' but i'd love to give it a try sometime hehehe.
being in dublin means you dont get the luxury of fish ball, kerang, udang, sotong etc. but of all the ingredients that makes the mee special, i choose only to buy tauhu goreng.
as usual, pictures by me are bad.

asked mak to make roti canai when i got to Sheffield, because i remembered mak had made them when i was younger and back in New Zealand. so i took almost step by step pictures so others could try. but i do apologize since the pictures are not half as good as they have been in the past month.. siggggghhhh. 

1st time masak lauk raya dengan pojie.
Menu:
- nasi impit
- kuah lontong
- kuah kacang
- rendang

tak pasti kalau ramai yang tau nak wat nasi impit sendiri, but sangat senang and xyah susah payah2 bawak dari malaysia, sebab kat dublin selalu makan beras basmati pun.
suakatan dia 1 put beras = 3 put air + garam skit

1st time masak lontong also. got tips from both maks.
ingredients:

blend semua bahan kat atas, pastu tumis jer
- serai
- kiub ayam (for extra taste)
campak dlm bahan yg da tumis, then tambah air
- veges: potato, cabbage - kasi lembut skit, baru masukkan
- santan
- asam keping and salt to season
- veges: carrot, cauliflower
- su'un (camne eja tah) and perut tahu.

kuah kacang simple (recipe from mesra.net + tips from hazirah)
http://resepi.mesra.net/Detailed/2788.shtml
tip: kacang beli yg siap roasted and salted dari aldi, pastu bila da rebus kasi lembut skit, masuk je blender semua skali and just put on pulse so xhancur sgt.

rendang daging (cheating 100%- perencah maggi : still need to learn how to make it b'cuz the packet rendang tastes to artificial)

this simple carrot-cabbage-coriander salad complements both western and eastern dishes. really simple but may need a little effort to cut and chop the vegetables. I've now profiled this salad in two of my entries, one with nasi beriani and the other with roast chicken.

the dressing is really simple
-olive oil
-lemon juice
-salt
-pepper
-honey/sugar
-mustard seeds (optional- i don't usually have any lying around so i leave it out. kakda usually uses it and it gives it an extra kick)

just back from mullingar and had gotten pretty weary of 'western' food, plus it was freezing cold throughout most of the week, i just felt that i needed something steaming hot and spicy with a malaysian taste. i'm sure you get that feeling too, when you just wish you could slurp on something hot and savoury on a cold day. (i.e "best nye kalau dpt makan sup panas, sejuk2 ni.") and usually my mind would fall on tomyam, but yesterday i felt like making something different. so, redah jugak petang2 and went to buy meehoon at Oriental.
extremely simple, extremely cheap, and extremely fast. made in about half an hour... it was ready to eat. served with some kicap-cili padi and garnished with spring onions and chillies.

for pojie's belated (midweek time restriction) birthday dinner, we made meatball beriani. pojie shaped the meatballs and i used adami rempah beriani to make the sauce n rice. it was simple enough, probably more fun because we were making it together.
Mak made very nice meatball beriani, so tu yg teringin nak makan. but i used adami rempah, so it didn't taste like mak's, it tasted like the nasi beriani that my mother in law makes. sedap2. alhamdulillah.
i served the meatballs and rice with a cabbage-carrot-corriender salad which kakda taught me how to make, and it complimented the dish well.
enjoyed the meal, and would definately make it again.

1st trial of karipap pusing. made on friday 24th October. I used to help my mom make karipap pusing when I was younger. Now days, we just by the frozen karipaps, the ones they sell at pasar tani or similar. Nobody has the energy or patience anymore to do such tedious work when you can get them at a much reasonable price with the guarentee that they'll turn out right. None the less, I wanted to at least remember how it was made. I followed a recipe I found from a blog, but I find the 'kulit' is not like my moms. it's more crumbly then it it is crunchy and the way it's done is also different but I guess it's probably less tedious.
Anyway, this is how it turned out.


huhu one sad thing was that I didn't put enough salt in both the crust and filling and it turned out bland (tawar). i'm not going to share any recipes as i just got this off the internet. if you're interested, this is the website: http://rozzan.blogspot.com/2007/08/karipap-pusing.html. his obviously turned out better then mine and he has also put pics of how to make them (amazing).

note to self: get mummys recipe and try again another time.