Bubur Pulut Hitam

I havent blog much about the desserts i've done. so here's one, i did just a few hours ago to satisfy my husband's craving for bubur pulut hitam. bubur means porridge, pulut hitam is glutinous rice. to tell you quite frankly, i dont really fancy any type of bubur, and i cant even remember if i've tasted this one prior to making one. but whether i like(d) it or not, i had to taste it in order to taste if its close to what he seems to be telling me.



Hardy found a packet of black glutinous rice at the toko and asked me if i know how to cook them. hey, i'm up for it! anything that can satisfy my husband's tastebuds and tummy, i'm game! i didnt know cooking them would be so sticky and you had to put quite a lot of sugar! but i managed to reduuce them to prevent us from putting more weight since we got here.

The colour puts me off, but as they say, dont judge the book by its cover! the taste was simply superb!! i wasnt sure as to how many gula melaka i'm suppose to add in, so basically, this recipe is just based on trial and error. i tasted it many times along the way.



BUBUR PULUT HITAM (my 1st attempt)

1/2 packet of Black Glutinous Rice
1 ltr of water
1 packet of Coconut Milk (use fresh coconut milk if you can)
150g-250g Gula Melaka
2-3 tbsp White Sugar
2 Pandan Leaves
Salt

1. Soak the rice for at least 1 hour before you bring it to boil. Boil together with pandan leaves.
2. When its half way or gets sticky, add gula melaka and white sugar. (sorry i didnt keep track on how much exactly i put them, hope the estimation helps!)
3. When it's about done, add 250ml coconut milk and stir well.
4. Keep the remaining coconut milk for you to add them yourself later on once it's off the stove! this one's slightly much more thicker than the previous that you added in.

It took me close to 2 hours to prepare them, slowly cook them to almost perfection, frequently tasting them at different stages and Hardy took hardly 2 mins for him to wipe it off the bowl! licin! i must have done good! ;)



It's really nice! where have i been all these while?!?!??!!

Grilled Chicken Wings

Back home, at the stalls, there will be a few that sells grilled chicken wings. this is one part of the chicken that they dont really fancy over here, therefore we can get them really cheap.

Of course it'd be nice to have yours at the stalls, eating on a stoll, your food on a foldable table, the boys shouting "teh o ais limau satuuuuu" (one ice lemon tea), the sound of the fire from the woks, with the whole atmosphere, but when you're far from all that, you'd tend to make do.

This was my attempt to make do! no atmosphere, but taste was quite near to home.

GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

Marinade the chicken wings with oyster sauce, soy sauce (i used kicap pekat ABC as it is way thicker than the rest), a tad of salt and just a hint of white pepper for at least 1 hour. as usual, the longer the better.

One option is to add one or two drops of sessame oil.

Have a tablespoon full of cooking oil ready to spread onto the chiken about half way through grilling.

Grill it in the oven. check regularly if you set it high. i normally set mine at 200c on mormal grill speed and 180c on turbo grill. (thank you whirlpool for the best oven!)

Serve with thai sweet chilli sauce for starters or steamed white rice as part of your dish.

A Malaysian Breakfast

The Malays eat Nasi Lemak (coconut rice) for breakfast - yes.. rice early in the morning. not just rice, but it is accompanied by boiled eggs, dried anchovies and peanuts, cucumber slices and sambal tumis (lots and lots of cooked red chillies!). nasi lemak is available in most malay hawker stalls throughout malaysia and singapore during breakfast time. it is a heavy meal to start off your day, therefore i wouldnt recommend people to practise the malaysian diet!!

I normally cook this during the weekends when Hardy has slightly more time to enjoy his breakfast, rather than a 5 min one before dashing off to work.


NASI LEMAK

RICE

Long grain rice - 1½ cups
Coconut milk - ¾ cup
Cooking oil - 2 tsp (to prevent the rice from sticking together) - if you have a good rice, you might not need them
Water - 2 cups
Ginger - slice them up thinly
Shallots - slice them
Pandan Leaf - tie a knot (i didnt use any)
Lemongrass - (whack one up and chuck it in the rice cooker)
Halba - (those brown things which i think in english is called fenugreek?)
Salt

1. Wash rice in cold water and drain. Soak in coconut milk for 10 minutes.
2. Pour 2 tsp of oil in the rice cooker, add the rice and let the oil coat the rice.
3. Now add the water.
4. Add ginger and shallots.
5. Add in pandan leaf and lemongrass.

Basically, its the same method as cooking the normal rice, but substitue the water to coconut milk. the fruity essence of the pandan leaf, lemongrass and the nutty flavor of the coconut milk will infuse into the rice.

Make sure you switch the rice-cooker to the cook mode (i can't tell you how many times i've forgotten to do this and waited hours for my rice to be ready!)

EGGS and CUCUMBER

Boil the eggs and later cut into halves
Slice some cucumber

ANCHOVIES
Fry them in a pan of hot oil but be very careful not to burn them. it should be golden and crunchy.

SAMBAL TUMIS

Dried chillies
Shallots
Garlic
Belacan (Dried Shrimp Paste) - You must be able to handle the smell!
Asam Juice
Salt & Sugar to taste

Method:

1. Take out all or some of the seeds of the dried chillies as required so that the sambal will not be too hot. do this by simply snipping the chillies across into two and the dried seeds will tumble out.
2. Soak the dried chillies in water (the longer the better) and later bring it to boil.
3. Put the dried chillies, skinned shallots, garlic and the baked blachan and some water (just enough to cover the ingredients) into the blender and grind till fine.
3. Put some oil into a saucepan, add the chillie mixture and stir well till it changes colour.
4. Add the the prepared assam juice.
5. Cook for some time until the chillie mixture turns a little dark red. do not overcook as the mizture will turn darker and darker.
6. Add salt and sugar to taste. this is not a sweet dish and sugar should be added just enough to give it that saucy sharpness and no more.

I've practise long and hard for this but as usual, i dont really have the right measurements and quantities on how much each ingredient should be used. i should get the measurements.. i know.. will try to do it next time!

Ayam Goreng Ku nyit nyit nyit

On my laziest days, this is what i'll do - Chicken with tumeric. hardly have time these days as aidan's been on gear 4 crawling, climbing, pulling, grabbing...

You'll find tumeric powder being sold at most turkish shops, as well as asian tokos. but you will find no problems in finding them back home, in malaysia for certain. it is one of our essential ingredients, as most malay households will have them in our kitchens. if you're new to this spice, and not quite sure how it tastes like, this dish would probably sum up its flavour. as usual, you can add loads more to it but the simpler the better. i've added some curry leaves to give it a little bit more spice!

CHICKEN WITH TUMERIC

Chicken breasts -cut into strips
Onions - cut into rings
Tumeric Powder
Salt
Curry Leaves - make sure they're washed!
Green Chillies - cut into chunks
Cooking Oil

Saute the onions and curry leaves, add the chicken strips until its golden and cooked. sprinkle some tumeric powder and stir well. put in the green chillies and later add salt to taste. if it sticks too much on the pan, add a tad bit of water. easy peezy!

Lettuce

Sometimes when you want to avoid eating stir fried vegs, and bored of steaming or grilling them, try this. i can assure you that this is the simplest vegetable dish ever! and all you need it simply minimal, you dont have to even roll up your sleeves to do this.



Boil the lettuce for about 1 1/2 to 2 mins, but make sure that they are not overly boiled and still have their crunch. take them out of the pot, and into a bowl, and pour a couple of tablespoonfulls of oyster sauce on the greens. mix them well, and top them up with fried shallots.