Chicken Balti

Its fasting month and we break our fast slightly later than previous years, our first day of fasting, maghrib was at 8.30pm! we just have to have rice (me especially!).

Dad cooks most of them time since he's here (arent i lucky!?). His dishes are fine dishes, he is one fine cook. by fine i mean fine from chopping, to actually cooking and to cleaning up! everything was so in order! (helps when you are an ex RMC maybe!). But anyway, i still cook! but my cooking session would only take about less than 45 mins!

Here's one to share..

I might be wrong, but as far as i know, the word "balti" means bucket, referring to the shape of the cooking pot. this is a very easy simple dish to make. a little bit on the heavier side, but it's ok once in a while (especially during fasting month)...

Chicken Balti

3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder
1 garlic clove - crushed
230g chopped tomatoes
water
500g chicken breasts cut into small pieces (i used thighs)
150ml sour cream
50g creamed coconut
salt
a handful of chopped corriander

1. heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until soft. stir in the spices and garlic and cook for 1 min.

2. add the tomatoes sugar (if needed) and water. bring it to oil and simmer for 10 mins.

3. when curry is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a wok and stir fry the chicken in batches until golden brown and cooked through. remove the chicken and add to the sauce.

4. stir in the cream and add to sauce along with the creamed coconut. stir until the sauce is boiling and the creamed coconut has dissolved.

5. add in chopped corriander 2-3 mins before you serve with rice.

Crabcakes

Gosh! i havent put up a cooking post for so long! sorry guys... ok, ok.. here's one. over here, we get the english satelite channels. this means that we get to see british programmes! i was watching this one cooking programme (i believe it was indian food made easy), and saw this really cool recipe. it requires a lot of things but it is really simple. you can modify it to your taste i'm sure it'll be good too!


I took down the recipes and only managed to do it probably a year after i saw the show! this dish is simply refreshing. serve with lime and yoghurt and add loads of corriander for the dip, it's a summer treat indeed!



Ingredients

4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
thumb sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
¼-½ tsp red chilli powder
salt, to taste
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp lemon juice
25g/1oz fresh coriander leaves and stalks, chopped
400g/14oz prepared crab meat
1 large free-range egg
2½ tbsp mayonnaise
9-10 pieces of thick bread, made into crumbs in a food processor


Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

2. Heat half the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the onion for about four minutes, or until soft. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 40 seconds. Stir in the coriander, red chilli powder, salt and garam masala and cook for another 20 seconds then take off the heat. Place into a large bowl.

3. Add the lemon juice, fresh coriander, crab, egg and mayonnaise to the onion mixture in the bowl. Stir well and add the breadcrumbs. Divide into eight equal portions and form each into a circular shape.

4. Heat one tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan and cook the crab cakes in batches over a low moderate heat for about two minutes on each side, or until golden brown adding more oil as needed.

5. Place the cooked crab cakes on a baking tray and place them into the oven to stay warm while you cook the others.

6. For the tamarind mayonnaise, place all the tamarind mayonnaise ingredients into a bowl and whisk together. Season to taste.

Trev's Bread Pudding

My sister Fifi's good friend Trevor is a good cook. and not to mention a really cool bloke as well! he loves to cook! he shared his bread pudding recipe with us last year, i dont really like bread pudding but i LOVE this one!

Served with mum's delicious custard and i guarantee it'll be a sure hit! i'm still looking for the custard recipe, will update them in here once i get them downstairs, in my kitchen.

How was your weekend? what did you cook lately?


Trevor's Bread & Butter Pudding

16 medium sized bread
8 egg yolks

6oz castor sugar

300ml fresh milk

300ml double cream

1oz sultana

1 oz raisins

Unsalted butter for spread

Vanilla pod (if you dont have them you can use vanilla essence)

Method:

1. whisk egg yolks and sugar

2. simmer cream, milk, vanilla pod in a pot on low heat

3. once simmering pour egg yolk and sugar

4. keep mixing until it disolves and thickens

5. spread unsalted butter on bread and layer them in a oven proof container, cover bottom of the container and when you reach 3/4 layers add sultana and raisins

6. pour in the custard mix over bread and leave it to soak for 20 mins

7. chuck it in the oven for 15-20 mins on 180-200c

Thanks a lot Trev!!!

My Sister Fifi's Delicious Prawns with Crunchy Coconut

My sister cooks this mean dish whenever we're in Warwick. i absolutely adore prawns and i simply love this dish! its the combination of crunchy, sweet and hot! crunchy from the coconut, sweet from the prawns and hot from those tiny little super hot chillis (we call them cili padi).



Hardy got us some prawns at the market last Saturday and i quickly called up my sister to ask how she did it. it turned out good, but not as good as hers! her wok must be slightly older than mine! hehe... or maybe she's simply a better cook than me!? (thats debatable!)

We bought half a kilo of prawns and by the end of it all, we were stuffed! we seldom buy prawns (i'd say once in every 2-3 months!) ... so i suppose it's alright to spoil ourselves with some cholesterol once in a while!

My Sister Fifi's Delicious Prawns with Crunchy Coconut and Curry Leaves (i dont know what else to name it!)

Ingredients:

1 packet of Desicated Coconut

half a kilo of fresh prawns

3 Cloves of Garlic

Half a handful of Curry Leaves (i put a handful, i simply love them)

5-6 Tiny Super Hot Chillis (cili padi)

Sweet Soy Sauce (i used our favourite Kicap Kipas, the best!)

Method:

1. Heat the wok and pour the desicated coconut in. stir and stir and stir till it gets golden (careful not to burn them!). Once done, transfer them into a bowl.

2. Fry the prawns for about 3-4 mins. Once they turn sassy pink, transfer them into a bowl/plate and leave a tad bit of oil in the wok.

3. Fry the garlic, chillis and curry leaves till the smell gets to you, then add in the coconut and prawns. mix them well and add about 1-2 tbps of soy sauce. mix them well for another min or two.

SEDAP GILA FI! thank you!!!

Moist Walnut Cupcakes

I honestly suck at baking. the only cake i can bake, and bake very well (and earn money out of it once) is prune cake. the craze about cupcakes these days are just beyond words! there are so so many people doing it these days, a lot of telanted people who can pipe and decorate to the tiniest detail of a petal!


This was what was wrong with this particular cupcake. i was so excited to put the frosting on and look at what had happened! i'm suppose to wait for the cupcake to cool off at least, then only add the frosting for it to FROST! too anxious, it then melted :( oh well, they all go to the same place i suppose! heheh...

Here's wishing all you lot a jolly bright weekend! thanks for dropping by. will blog again soon!

Moist Walnut Cupcakes

85g walnuts

4tbsp butter, softened

100g castor sugar

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

70g self rising flour

2 eggs

12 walnuts to decorate

For frosting:

4 tbsp butter, softened

85g icing sugar

grated lime of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp of lemon juice

1. Put paper baking cases in a muffin pan.
2. Put the walnus in a food processor and blend until finely ground, careful not to overgrind which will turn them to oil.
3. Add butter, cut into small pieces along with the sugar, lemon rind, flour and eggs. then blend until evenly mixed.
4. Spoon mixture into paper cases and bake cupcakes in a preheated oven 190 degrees c for apprx 20 mins or until well risen and golden brown.
5. To make frosting, put the butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy. sift the icing sugar, add the lemon rind and juice and mix well.
6. (this was where i went wrong!) When cupakes are cold, spread a little frosting on top of each cake and top with a walnut.

The Crave

We sometimes crave for the food back home. and this is definitely one of them - Keropok Lekor! after seeing Jo's keropok lekor on her blog, i told her, i just had to do it! and so i kept my fingers crossed, rolled up my sleeves and did it!

Its just basically, fish and flour, boiled then fried. but the process takes ages! i was trying to get rid of all the bones till i realized that that would be almost impossible! it was a very fishy business, but it was all worth it! somehow mine lacks the "lekor-ness" (whatever that means!). it tasted more like ordinary keropok. i didnt add any ajinomoto (i've never bought it before, but they do sell them here!), like what Jo did, that's probably why! Jo! Help!!!

I managed to snap only one photo, it didnt last more than a minuite on the plate! if you know what i mean! oh, and hardy insisted on the shape (i wanted it to be cute and tiny) but whatever the shape or size, the 3 of us enjoyed it very very much! you certainly must not judge the book by its cover! hehe. but how we (or maybe i, since hardy didnt complain at all!) wish it could be just like those ones back in Malaysia!

Click here for Jo's recipe.

I'm going to join Hardy in bed now (watching the new season of Heroes la!). will blog again on crafts tomorrow!!