Fried Fish with Crispy Lemongrass and Dried Curd Chillies

Fried fish with crispy lemongrass is a dish my mom used to make whenever she bought fresh croakers from the market. As children, fish is the least preferred lauk for me and my sister compared to chicken- well, i think all children do. My mom would always find ways to make us enjoy fish dishes as halal chicken is not assessible in our neighbourhood market. 

Found my old recipe book all torn and worn out.. and i stumbled upon my mom’m recipe for this. 

My first recipe book dated back in September 1993

I remembered those days i would sit next to her over tea and jot down her recipes whenever she cooks dishes that i liked. 

Revising the recipe, i have included dried curd chillies which i feel give this dish its unique flavour. 

The Ingredients: 

1 small barramundi (butterfly cut)

Part A(to be mde into a paste):

2-3 onions

2 garlic

3-4 dried chillies

1tsp cumin powder

1 tsp crushed black pepper

Part B:

Salt

Turmeric powder

Corn flour

Part C (the garnishing):

5-6 onion (sliced)

10-12 lemongrass (finely sliced)

4-5 Dried curd chillies (cut) 

Method: 

1. Pat the fish dry and cover it with Part A, salt n turmeric powder. 

2. Coat the fish lightly with corn flour. 

3. Deep fry the fish. 

(I ran out of oil 😅😅) 

4. Once the fish is done. Put it aside and pour out the excess oil. Fry Part C one by one: 

Once done, toss it to drain excess oil. 

Granish the fish with fried shallots, lemongrass and dried curd chilles. This will give the fish- the hot n lemak taste 😋😋 

And.. ta daaa.. 

The fried fish is ready. 
Bon appetito.

MW Short Ribs

This short rib recipe is inspired by Tony Roma's short ribs. I guess in making any dish with meat.. d most important factor is - you need a good butcher - yup! a butcher that knows every part of the cow and what it is good for.. In cooking short ribs.. to have that satisfying succulent meat to gnaw on and on indulgently.. you need that perfect part of the rib. The normal ribs sold in the market normally has a little meat attached to the bone - these types of meat need to order in advance.

For this short ribs recipe, you need:

 

2 yellow onion
3 garlic
2 tbsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp coarse black pepper
1 cup Heinz bbq hickory smoke
2 cups Life tomato sauce
salt, pepper, brown sugar
5 short ribs
corn flour for coating
2 tomatoes (optional)

Method:

Coat ribs with salt, pepper and corn flour.

In a wok- fry the ribs just for the corn flour to coat the meat well.. 

Doing this will ensure the sweetness of the meat after hours of braising.

Once the meat is done, using the same oil, sweat the onion & garlic. 

(Sweating = stir-fying the onion in a low heat till its brown.)

By doing this, the gravy will have a sweater taste. :)

Once the onion & garlic is done - place them in a pot together with the ribs.

Let it boil while we prepare the braising sauce. 

Using the same wok and oil - put in the remaining ingredients 

(tomato sauce, bbq sauce, mixed herbs, brown sugar, salt & coarse black pepper).

                                                              Mix well and taste.

Pour into the pot and braise till meat tender (approx. 3 hours)

All tender and tasty - now ready to roast :)

Preheat the oven for 200C and roast the ribs for approx. 25mins

(Let the ribs coat the gravy well before arranging them on the roasting rack)

Ta daaa.... bon apetito :)

Pegaga Rice

been awhile since i've updated this page with my recipes..
promises kept on hold for sometime - Here's my simple recipe for Pegaga Rice..

Before I list down the ingredients, let me share a few tips on making this rice. My personal preferences when cooking rice with coconut milk or milk-  are to use Thai fragrant jasmine rice and fresh coconut milk. To ensure the rice cook well without having coconut milk 'residue' on the top of the rice after cooking, add 2 tbsp of cooking. :)
Ingredients:

3 cups of pegaga leaves
7 shallots
8-10 garlic
cinnamon stick, 4 cloves & star anise
Full cream milk / Coconut milk
salt
 
There's another version of this rice where the ingredients are a little different - instead of using cinnamon, cloves and star anise, we can replace these with a pinch of fenugreek and use screwpine leaves for aroma  :)


Methods:
1. Wash the rice and put in thinly sliced shallots & garlic, cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise.
2. Pour in coconut milk (amount should be 3/4 of the total measurement of water - depends on the quantity of rice)

3. Blend pegaga to extract its juice. Sieve and pour in the pot. Add salt (put in a little extra for taste)
(The amount of liquid (pegaga juice and coconut milk should be d same as the amount of rice as thai fragrant jasmine rice easily get soft if cooked with excess water).
4. Cook rice as usual.

 

Note:

I like to have my pegaga rice with fried salted kurau. Try frying this salted fish by adding 1tsp of ghee into the hot oil. You'll enjoy this salted fish dish even better. ** Use only salted kurau for this.. other kinds of fish are not recommended. 

 Bon Appetito :)

Spicy Tauchoo Bamboo Clams

 It is once in a blue moon would you fine these delicious bamboo clams in the wet market. My favourite way of cooking this 'razor blades yummies' is using chilly and tauchoo. I like it simply bcoz it is easy and a quick dish to make.

To make this dish, basically u need 4 ingredients:

• 1 kg bamboo clams
• 1 large onion
• Chilly tauchoo paste made of: 5-8 dried chillies, 1 tbsp tauchoo, 3 shallots and 2 garlic
• tamarind juice from 1 tbsp of tamarind
• coriander leaves
• brown sugar & salt to taste

Method:

1. Stir fry the onions till golden.

2. Pour in the chilly-tauchoo paste, a little brown sugar and salt to taste. 

3. Once the paste is done ( oil raises to the surface), pour in the tamarind juice.

4. Let it simmer for a while and add in bamboo clams.

5. Stir fry the clams for a few minutes and put in coriander leaves.

6. Best served hot.

- bon appetite - 

Chicken Makhani ~ Indian Butter Chicken

Chicken Makhani... the first time i heard about this dish was a few years back when my sis came back from her 3-month course in India. She was head over heels with this dish that she almost jump in joy when she managed to find a restaurant in town that serve this dish. Soon the dish becomes our all time family fav! My version of chicken makhani is a little bit sourish and best eaten with cheese kulcha / naan cheese. The combination of creamy cheesy naan and chicken makhani is superb.. do try it .. :)

Chicken Makhani & Smoked Cheese Kulcha

Ingredients:

2 pieces of chicken breast - sliced and seasoned with salt, pepper and corn flour.
1 large red onion
2 shallots
3 garlic
1cm ginger
1 tbsp masala powder
1 tbsp fennel powder
1 black cardamon pots
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 cup greek yogurt
1 can of Heinz Tomato Soup
butter , olive oil.
1 bay leave
fresh crack black pepper

Method:

1. Heat olive oil and stir fry chicken breast till half cooked.

2. Scoop and set aside.

3. In the wok, stir fry the onions, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick,

star anise, black cardamon pots.

4. In a bowl, mix all the powder together with water.

5. Pour the mixture into the wok when the onions turn slightly golden.

6. Once oil surfaces from the mixture of spice powder, pour the can of tomato soup.

7. Let it bubble for a few minutes.

8.  Put in bay leave, chicken breast and greek yogurt.

9. Add in salt and brown sugar to taste.

10. Stir fry for a few minutes. 

11. Add in a slab of butter and freshly cracked black pepper.

~ bon appetito ~

Fried Glutinous Rice Flakes

Glutinous Rice Flakes or what we called Emping is one of the traditional dish in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia particularly in Penang, Kedah and Perlis. How these green flakes are served as a dish depends on which state you are in. In Kedah and Perlis, mostly, emping is preferred to be eaten as a sweet dish where it is served with fresh grated coconut, sugar and a bit of salt. As for Penangites, we like it to be a little bit spicy and crunchy.

Sold in packets, you need to discard the husks from the flakes.

Basically fried emping is done just like you fry fried rice. The only difference is that, the ingredients need to be dry in order to have crunchy emping :)

Ingredients:
1/2 packet of emping
omelette (separate d egg whites n yolk to have the different colour effect) ;)
fried minced beef (fry mince beef with salt and pepper till the juices dry up)
diced carrot, cabbage
sliced spring onion and chinese celery
diced big yellow onion
chilly paste made of 4 red chillies, 3 garlic & 4 shallots.
salt & sugar to taste










Methods:

1. On a medium heated pan, toast the flakes till slightly golden / crunchy and put aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok and put in the chilly paste, a little sugar and salt.

Fry till fragrant.

3. Once the paste is done - fragrant and the oil arises to the surface, put in the fried mince beef, carrots & cabbage. Stir for a few minutes.

Then, put in the diced big onion.

4. Put in the flakes and mix well. 

Remember, the heat should be medium.

5. Finally put in sliced spring onion and chinese celery.

Serve hot to savour the crunchiness of the flakes ~ kruk kruk kruk.. ;)

 serve with julienne omelette, red & green chilly (optional )

~ Bon Appetito ~