The Sky Is Blue

Ginger Rice

2009-03-24T22:55:00.000+08:00

It is called Ginger Rice because you will need a lot of ginger to cook it. The rice is very tasty to serve together with curry, any type of curry ... chicken curry, mutton curry, fish curry, just name a few. I will show you how to cook the rice and later I will show you how to cook a very simple India curry.

Here is the list for you to prepare ....

2 cups of white rice
1 stick of cinnamon stick
1 star anise
20 slices of young ginger

1 tsp of chicken granule
1 tsp of turmeric powder (or fresh turmeric paste, 1 tbsp)
1 tsp of salt

1 tbsp of fried garlic and its oil
2 sheets of "pandan leaf"
3 cups of water (to cook the rice or as required)

These are optional, add them in when the rice is cooked or just before serving:

some raisin and/or cashew nuts

Wash the rice as usual and put everything listed above into the rice and cook over the rice cooker.

The rice will be in yellow color due to the turmeric powder.

It smell good and very tasty even you just eat it on its own.

Spring Onions

2008-11-13T17:27:00.001+08:00

Coriander leaves

Spring onions

Chinese cooking uses a lot of spring onions and coriander leaves. But how to keep the leaves fresh for a week or two? Even you wrapped it with paper and refrigerated it still turn yellow.

Here is a very simple way to keep it. What you should do is wash the spring onions or the coriander leaves clean, leave it air dry, then transfer it to a container, covered it up. It should be kept refrigerated at all time.

It will last at least two long week!!

Scramble Egg Bread

2008-10-06T16:35:00.004+08:00

Tired of sandwiches?

Why not try this sweet scramble egg bread? It is fast, easy, delicious and healthy too.

Beat or whisk 2 medium size eggs with 1 tbsp full of sugar. The egg mixture supposed to taste sweet.
Cut bread into the shape of 2 or 4 triangles.
Heat up the non stick frying pan with a bit of butter or 1 tsp of cooking oil

Dip the bread into the egg mixture, make sure the bread is well coated.
Fry it.
Make sure the heat is low or else the bread will get burn very quickly :)

Dessert - Peanut Dumplings

2008-10-03T21:46:00.015+08:00

Chinese like to eat colorful dumplings on the 22nd December each year when it is very close to the Chinese New Year celebration. Legend has it that by eating the dumplings, you become one year older and will have a "rounded" year ahead (meaning a better and happier year). But nowadays you can eat it anytime so long as you know how to do it.

My sisters used to cook the dumplings plain i.e. just with the sugar solution or syrup. They made the dumplings into very small red, green and white. It looks very appetizing. Although the dumplings were plain but with the nicely cooked syrup, they were very tasty.

Nowadays, you can get the ready mixed colorful dumpling dough from the morning market in December.

This peanut dumplings we going to make is without color. I will show you how to use the fruit coloring in the future.

First cook the syrup by boiling the 150g of sugar into 600 ml of water. Add "Pandan" leaves as the flavor enhancer. They will give the syrup a very pleasant smell. When the sugar fully dissolved, pour them into a mixing bowl, discard the pandan leaves.

Pound peanut candy with mortar & pestle (you can get it from Ikea) until they are finely ground. As peanut candy were sweet so it will make the dumplings tastier. Put it aside.

You may keep in a jar for future use. This is the same peanut candy I used it for Apple Salad.

Now mix 200g of glutinous flour with approximately 160ml of warm water. Knead the dough until they are well mixed.

Okay now we are ready to make a dumpling. Simply roll a small piece of dough into a ball shape, then press it flat. Scoop about 1 tsp of peanut onto the middle, wrap the peanut nicely make sure no peanut was spilled onto the outer layer of the dough. If you are skillful enough, add more peanuts. I like it with a lot of peanut filled inside.

So you will continue making quite a lot of peanut dumplings (30-40 pieces) and leave them on a tray. We have to cook them before it turned too dry or it will crack. If you feel the dough is too dry, just put a drop of water on you palm and roll.

Here is how to cook them. Boil a pot of water. When the water started boiling, put in the dumplings one by one. They will sink and when it cooked, it floats. Let it continue cooking for a minute before scooped it out into the sugar syrup.

Transfer a few pieces of dumplings with syrup into a nice bowl and serve.

Try it out, it is yummy.

Salmon Spaghetti

2008-08-12T12:39:00.008+08:00

This is a very yummy pasta - SALMON SPAGHETTI. It is not difficult to cook it at home. In fact I found it very easy.

First you have to fry the Salmon (Not necessary to coat with salt as we will add some to spaghetti later). Once done, break the salmon(discard the bones) into some smaller pieces.

I always use the spaghetti no. 2, I find the size just right. So boil some spaghetti in the salted boiling water according to the time specified.

Get ready 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic. Saute it using the extra virgin olive oil. It was done when the garlic turned light brown. Discard 1/2 of the garlic (you can use all if you like garlic) and put the rest (the garlic and the oil) in a nice serving plate (or mixing bowl).

Drain the spaghetti when it was done and pour straight onto the garlic oil, add 1 tsp of chicken stock granules and salt to taste. Add the salmon, mix all together.

Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes on top. Serve.

Try it out!!

Crispy Biscuits

2008-08-11T16:32:00.002+08:00

How do you keep the crispy biscuits?

Yes keep in the air-tight bottle or container. To prolong their crispy life, just throw in one or two cube sugars (those we throw into the coffee) into it. This is because sugars absorb the moisture in the air and hence keep the biscuits crisp.

But the best way is to eat it FRESH!!

Recipe - Dau Yew Bak - Soy Sauce Pork

2008-08-08T16:04:00.002+08:00

This is the Black Soy Sauce Pork. The very basic version.

There are so many ways of cooking Dau Yew Bak or so call Black Soy Sauce Pork.

Surprisingly, only pork belly is nice to be used in this recipe.

Marinate the pork belly (about 300g) with 2 tbsp of premium soy sauce.

Marinate them for few hours; you can marinate in the morning and cook it for dinner. (optional- I have added 1 tsp of 5 spices powder)
Get ready the garlic, wash it clean and to be cooked with its skin.

Get ready the candy sugar cubes.

Saute the meat together with the garlic and cube sugar in 2 tbsp of hot oil.

When the meat started to shrink, add
1. 500ml of water,
2. 1 tbsp of soy sauce,
3. 1 tbsp of black thick soy sauce.

In the even the water dry up mid way, add addition hot water.

This is the hard boiled eggs. (Boil the egg in the boiling water for 5 minute. Turn the heat off, leave it covered for about 20 minute. Un-shell it under running water).

Put the hard boiled egg into the soup. Let it cook together with the meat. Occasionally turn the eggs so that they have even brown color on its surface.

When the meat is tender, about 30-45 minute later, add the starch (1.5 tsp mix with 2 tbsp of water) to make the soup not to watery, add salt to taste (in fact the soy sauce eliminates the need to add salt). The sauce suppose to taste a bit sweet, so add a little bit of sugar if required. Some like it salty some like it sweet, so you have to adjust the flavor according to your family preference.

When you get the taste right after a few trials, you can venture into other versions of Dau Yew Bak which give stronger flavor.

A) Dau Yew Bak with 5 spices powder.
B) Dau Yew Bak with dried squid.

Afternoon Tea with Cheese Tarts

2008-07-06T15:19:00.003+08:00

This is a hot Saturday afternoon. Stay home, make tarts and have a nice afternoon tea with beloved family.

Of course, with the freshly baked cheese tarts.

Our Cameron Highlands' tea is nice.

Cheese Tarts - Part 3

2008-07-05T12:32:00.007+08:00

Practice makes perfect.

Most of my kid's classmates love cheese tarts. I have been making cheese tarts for several times. I think I have improved the look and taste of the tarts.

I like to bake the tart shells ready as they can be kept for about 2 weeks. Sometime I made 2 recipes (refer to cheese tart recipe in Part 1) which will give me approximately 120 - 130 shells. This is also more convenience as we can use the whole 250g of butter.

You can put 2-3 pieces of chocolate chips at the base of the shell.

Fill the tart shells with cream cheese, use nozzle.

Top it up with blueberry jam.

Then bake it.

My daughter said she felt very happy as her friends love the cheese tarts so much.

Yeah, she had felt the joy of giving.

My daughter with her sweet smell of success.

Recipe - Chocolate Cookies with Almonds

2008-05-06T12:43:00.012+08:00

As a housewife, we would try to find something easy to cook or bake but never compromise on its taste and nutrient, so that we have some sweet time for ourselves; to watch a movie, to read a book or go shopping.

This is the chocolate cookies I like to bake for the family. It is simple and delicious and absolutely terrific for afternoon tea and party. The most important thing was that you can always bake this cookies fresh. How? Keep the unbaked chocolate mixture in the refrigerator, as and when you need it, cut and baked them. So you always have a freshly baked cookies at home. What a good idea, isn't it?

Here is how to do it:

Cream 250g of butter and 150g of fine sugar together. Beat till mixture is fluffy.

Mid way, add 1 tea spoon of chocolate 'emulco' and an egg. Continue at medium speed or high it doesn't matter. When it was completely mixed, stop the machine.

Now, sieve 400g of multi-purpose flour or plain flour and 20g of cocoa powder (choose the premium quality for a better taste) and 1/4 tsp of baking powder into the batter. Add gradually.

Use spatula initially as it was very sticky and messy. When finished adding the flour, uses hand to rub the batter until the mixture is well mixed.

Adding almond flakes will give the cookies the extra crunch. You can replace almonds with hazelnuts, walnuts, and so on. Instead of flakes, you can use crushed/ground nuts too.

Finally, blend in the 150g of almond flakes.
Get ready a square baking mould, size 9" x 9". Spread a piece of cling film on top of it. Ensure that you left some excess cling film by the sides. The purpose is to cover the chocolate mixture later.

Okay, now pour the chocolate mixture into the baking mould. Press the chocolate mixture to make it firm and compact and has a smooth surface.

Use the excess cling film to wrap the firmly pressed mixture.
Keep it in the refrigerator for a few hours or over night. The purpose is to get it harden to make the slicing easier.

Anytime you feel like eating cookies, take the whole thing out from the refrigerator and unwrapped the cling film. First cut the 9x9 bar into 4 equal stripes. Then slice the chocolate stripe into thin pieces, about 3mm thick. If you are a bit slow like me, keep the rest back to the refrigerator. Do it one by one. It is difficult to cut if the chocolate bar get soften.

Lay them on the baking tray and bake at 180 °C for 18 minutes. (Always pre-heat the oven) Depends on the type of oven you have, some have good functions and there are those without fans. Keep an eyes if you bake it for the first time and you can adjust the temperature to say 170 degree for 20 minutes.

Let it cold before you served.

Have a nice morning or afternoon tea with your love one. Bake with LOVE and serve with a warm heart. Enjoy!!

Believe It or Not - Garlic & Mosquitoes

2008-05-04T15:07:00.006+08:00

I have an excellent home remedy for the annoying mosquitoes.

GARLIC

So kill mosquitoes no more. No need mosquitoes swatter, no need any aerosol.

Just put few packets of smoke garlic (i found the smoked garlic the most effective) at anywhere that attract mosquitoes. The smell of the garlic will chase them away or the number of mosquitoes will significantly reduced. A few packet under the study table, computer table, your living room, any where you like.

keep garlic in a nice bowl, in a beautiful basket; use it to decorate your floor. Not bad actually.

Try it, it is effective. Amazing.

VICKS VapoRub and Night Time Coughing

2008-04-22T12:08:00.007+08:00

I received an email from a friend quite sometime ago about this amazing Visks Vaporubs can relief the night time coughing.

I was not sure if it is true. I have to test it out before I can tell people how good how efficient the wonder of the Vicks Vaporubs against the night-cough.

My son was sick last week-end. He started with sore throat then subsequently his sickness deteriorated to have cough and flu.

So I tired this amazing Vicks Vaporubs. Hey, It worked. He slept soundly throughout the night. (I get him to sleep in my room so I can monitor him just in case he caught fever at night.)

For a comfortable sleep, remember to wear a pair of loose socks.

Try this remedy. It works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why. To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. An adult friend tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

Recipe - Soy Bean Paste Pork Ribs

2008-04-15T18:08:00.002+08:00

This is a simple set lunch I cook for my kids after their school - Soy Bean Paste Pork Ribs.
Leave your comments if you have something to say.

This recipe came from my youngest sister-in-law who stay at the Northern part of the Malaysia. Whenever we balik kampung (go back to home town - Kedah), they will cook whatever great dishes they can served and once we said good, the next time you go back, your favorite dishes will be on the table.

I love cooking soy bean paste pork ribs. First it is easy to cook and very fast; second of course it is very very delicious.

This is soy bean paste. 1 full tbsp. This is the most important ingredient for this dish. The aroma of the soy bean paste will waft through the kitchen when cooking.

You can use any reliable brand.

This is the shallot paste already mixed with garlic. 2 tbsp shallots, 1 tsp garlic (approx. shallots - 8, garlic - 2 cloves)

This is organic chili powder (100% Chili). 2 tsp (you can add more if you like it super hot)

About 300 g of pork ribs.

As usual, heat up approx. 3 tbsp of oil. Saute the shallots and chili paste until you can smell the good smells of the onion. Add the soy bean paste and stir. If the sauce was too dry, add some water. Always use medium heat.

Toss the ribs into the sause. Saute for a about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of sugar.

Add about 300 ml of water and simmer the meat gently for about 30 minute or when the sauce slightly thicken and the meats were tender.

But I use pressure cooker. It is fast. Just add 150 ml of water.

When the pressure is up, cook for 10 minutes.

To add some green, just trim the head and tail of the lady fingers. Steam for 5 minutes.

You will enjoy the saltiness of the soy bean paste and the sweetness it carries. It is amazingly delicious!!

The Best Recipe

2008-04-15T15:02:00.004+08:00

This is the best ever recipe and the greatest meal one would like to have.

MAIN COURSE : LOVE

INGREDIENTS : HUGS + KISSES TO TASTE

ALWAYS SERVED WITH A WARM HEART

Dessert - Apple Salad

2008-04-12T18:13:00.018+08:00

So what's for dessert today?

Try this - Green apple salad. It is so easy, no cooking is required. Teenage girl should tried this out as green apple is full of vitamin C and anti aging.

I tried this dessert many years ago at my friend's party, it really give you the sense of satisfaction. It was so delicious so I decided to do it at home. But it turn out a failure; it was edible but just less zest. So I consulted my friend the secret recipe behind it. Since then I have been serving people this wonderful dessert whenever I served dinner or lunch.

Some apples are too sweet, some are too sour. I would recommend Granny Smith green apple. It has both sweet and sour flavors just nice for this dessert.

Prepare a bowl of salt water, just 1/2 tsp of salt will do. This will prevent apple from oxidizing (I think this is the word. It turn brown if you leave it without salt water). Peel the skin if you don't like to taste the hardness of the apple skin.

This are peanut candies. Buy the one with sesame seeds (or you can add some roasted sesame seeds later). Don't use ground nuts or roasted peanuts as they wouldn't give you the sweetness of the candy we want.

Grind the candy but don't use machine. The ground peanuts should give you the mixture of some finely crushed and some rough texture.

Next you will need some mayonnaise. If you like it creamy, then you add in more. I normally use 1 tbsp for a bowl of apple.

Scoop up some chilled apple into a bowl, add the mayonnaise, add 1-2 tbsp of ground peanuts. Mix well.

Enjoy!!

Apple's nutrition facts

Apples have been found to reduce the risk of stroke and Type II diabetes and to improve bowel function. It helps prevent the growth of prostate cancer cells (existence of Flavonoids), and the skin of apples seem to inhibit the reproduction of colon cancer cells (existence of phytochemicals).

Two recent studies indicated that eating five apples a week helped lower the risk for respiratory diseases like asthma. Apples also help protect arteries from plaque build up, and eating two apples a day or drinking a 12 ounce glass of apple juice reduced the effects of cholesterol. Also, pectin and other acids in apples help aid digestion.

That’s why apples are great served with rich foods like pork or lamb or duck.

Apples have more nutrients if eaten raw with their skin, but they should be washed thoroughly. Just under that wonderful colored coat lies half of the Vitamin C content of the apple. The skin also has lots of fiber and is the source of the apple’s characteristic fragrance. A raw medium apple (two and a half inches in diameter), eaten with the skin, has only 80 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and is a great source of potassium. It also contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, and Vitamin C and A. The apple is composed of 80-85 percent water, 5 percent protein, and 10-15 percent carbohydrates. It also is sodium free and fat free.

Recipe - Steam Prawns

2008-04-11T09:37:00.008+08:00

This is one of our favorite family dish. You can really taste the sweetness of the prawn and the fragrance of the Chinese cooking wine.

I like to cook this dish as it is very convenience and easy to prepare and the most important it keeps my kitchen clean, no after cooking mess, no oily scene. Yes, it is very fast too.

Just one thing, if you are at the high cholesterol risk, may be you have to cut down the intake of prawns.

I always prepare the necessary ingredients earlier and keep them in the refrigerator; as steaming a plate of succulent prawns will take just short 5 minutes.

So you will need about 8 -1 0 big prawns. De-vain them and keep the shell intact. Trim the legs and cut the tail. Cut away the antenna too. So they look neat and presentable. Marinate the prawns with 1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine, 1/2 tsp of salt and sugar respectively. 10-20 minute will do but you can keep it longer. Just leave them in the refrigerator until you want to steam them.

Now let's prepare the sauce. Mix all the ingredients below in a bowl.

a) 200ml of water
b) 1/2 tsp of chicken stock granules
c) 1 1/2 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine
d) 1 tbsp of abalone or oyster sauce
e) 1 tbsp of wolf berries (Kei Chee). This is good stuff, it enhances ones eyesight.
f) 1 tsp of corn flour

Steam prawn just take 5 minutes. They are best to serve hot so steam them when you are ready for a meal. Arrange them nicely on the plate, spread finely shredded young ginger on top the prawns. Break an egg in the middle.

Then pour the sauce over.

Okay steam them for 5 minutes, no less no more. At Exactly 5 minutes, take them out from the steamer. The prawn will be just cook, they are succulent.

Yummy! Try it out.

Fried French Bean with Dried Scallop

2008-03-19T23:20:00.002+08:00

Fried french bean is a little bit too oily so you will need a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

Only 5 ingredients you will need to prepare: finely chopped garlic (1/2 tbsp), baby anchovies(1 tbsp), dried scallops (2 pieces), 1tbsp of oyster sauce and french beans.

Soak the dried scallops for at least 30 minutes. Break the scallops into stripe similar size as anchovies.

Heat up generous amount of oil. Fried the french beans for about 1 minute or 70% cooked.

Leave the fried beans on the kitchen towel to get rid of the excess oil. Now fried the anchovies and scallops. Put them both on the kitchen towel too.

Pour away the excess oil, leave about 1/2 tbsp on the wok (or saucepan). Saute the garlic, return the fried beans, anchovies and scallops backed to the wok.

Add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce. Mix well and they are ready. When cooked, the french beans should be crunchy. If the texture is soft, then they are overcooked.

Try it out. It is very delicious. The french bean is very sweet by itself.

I always storing up some anchovies, dried shrimps and dried scallops for contingency as sometime you might not have fresh ingredients on hand. And these 3 things can do many wonders.

Mango Sago Pudding

2008-03-18T16:20:00.005+08:00

We Malaysian can always find mangoes easily and there are always so many different varieties around. Some imported one can be bought from supermarket but they are really expensive.

People said it has been the national fruit of India. Some Hindu refers mangoes as their "food of the gods" and the leaves are ritually used for floral decorations at Hindu marriages and religious ceremonies.

Mangoes are very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin B6, A and C.

For those who are physically active, whether working out or constantly on the go, mangoes are a great way to replenish that lost potassium.

So we are going to make this healthy and holy fruit pudding and have a blessed day. It is wonderful to have a bowl of cold mango sago pudding on a hot sunny day. Yummy!

What you need is a reasonable sized ripe mango which given sweet smell and colored yellow. The look of the mango itself is very appealing. Make sure the mango is 100% riped otherwise you can't really taste its sweetness and aroma.

Firstly, cook the sago. Sago was cooked when it turned transparent and you thought it has gone missing in the hot boiling water. Separate the sago from the water using a sieve and soak in the water. Let the sago to chill in the refrigerator.

Secondly, peeled the mango and cut it into half. Keep it chill if possible before you blended it. The mango I used today is called Chukanan Mango.

We are going to blend half of the mango with 1 tbsp of sugar and 3 ice cubes using a blender to make a smooth paste (like a smoothie). Pour the mixture into a nice dessert bowl. Add 1 - 2 tbsp (or more if you like sago) of chilled cooked sago into the paste, 2-3 tbsp of cold water if you don't like the paste too sticky and mix well.

Lastly, cut the other half of the mango into cubes. Spread on top of the mango smoothie.

This mango sago pudding provides a very strong mango smell and pleasant flavor. It is very delicious. Try it out and it is best served chilled.

Enjoy!

Cheese Tarts - Part 2

2008-03-16T22:05:00.008+08:00

Here are some pictures on the process of making the tart shell.

Do you know how to clean the mess especially the bowl used to cream butter? Yes, use the soft spatula to scrub the bowl first then pour hot water into it.

Cream the butter, sugar and egg.
Add flour gradually

Jenn is making a tart shell

Now Everybody Can Bake - Cheese Tarts

2008-03-15T22:43:00.010+08:00

My friend Ailee came over yesterday to teach me how to bake a delicious cheese tarts. The process wasn't as difficult as I thought.

This is what you need:
125g of butter
50g of granulated sugar
1 egg
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence (optional)

Cream butter (soften) and sugar together at medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg and continue at medium speed until they are well mixed.

Now pour the flour gradually into the mixture and mix them with spatula or wooden spoon. When the mixture has become coarse dough, use hands instead to rub the dough until they are well mix and smooth.

Press a small piece of dough into the mould one by one. This will make about 60-70 pieces of small tart shells (bite size). Making tart shells need some skill but you will become more skillful after you have done a few tarts.

Bake the tart shells in the oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 15 minutes. The tart shells just like biscuits so you can actually prepare more and keep it for future use. What you have to do is just prepare the cream cheese and bake them one more time.

This is the freshly baked tart shells.

Now we are going to prepare the cream cheese.
250g of cream cheese
20 g of butter
50 g of granulated sugar (or lesser)
1 egg

It is best to first chop or break the cream cheese into smaller pieces (as it is quite hard) before cream it with butter and sugar. When the mixture turn fluffy, gradually add in the egg. Keep beating until they are well mixed and harden.

Fill the tart shell with cream cheese. Add a bit of blue berry jam, make a design or a pattern with a tooth pick. Bake them at 150 dc for 10 minutes (not to hot as the tart shells have already baked earlier).

As I love blue berry jam so I top it up.

Kam Heong Prawn

2008-03-12T23:24:00.005+08:00

Well, I have done the Kam Heong paste. Now we are going to use that to cook Kam Heong Prawn. This hot dish is very delicious and cooking kam heong prawn is very fast.

First marinate the de-veined, cleaned big prawn (about 10 prawns) with 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder similar way as we marinate for butter chicken, a pinch of salt. But this time we will add 1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine. Marinate for at least 30 minute if possible other wise it should be alright for just a short while as prawn is delicious even without any marination.

Fried the prawn. Fried each side for 2-3 minutes will do, depends on the size of the prawns.

Heat up about 1 tbsp of oil, toss in about 3 tbsp of the kam heong paste. You can add or reduce the amount of Kam Heong according to your personal preference. Put in the fried prawns. As the Kam Heoang paste is very dry, you should add about 3 tbsp of water. Stir fry the prawns until the sauce thicken or dried. This process will make sure all prawns were well coated with the sauce.

This makes the excellent hot main dish. Enjoy.

"Kam Heong" Paste

2008-03-11T21:04:00.009+08:00

I got this recipe from a cooking book and I have tried it out numerous times, it never failed me.

Kam Heong paste is very convenience for instant cooking. What you can do is prepare the Kam Heong paste ready and refrigerated it for future cooking. You can cook kam heong prawn, kam heong chicken, kam heong crab, or kam heong squid. Though I haven't tried cooking Kam Heong fish, but I guess it should be equally good. In short, kam heong is delicious to cook with seafood.

You will never thought cooking Kam Heong paste is so easy. The required ingredients are easy to source too.

50 g of dried shrimp, soak it in the water to soften it, then chop it up into small pieces
7-8 shallots, finely chopped
2-3 clove of garlics, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp of curry powder (any types, any brands)
3-4 stalks of curry leaves (discard the stalk) but if you can't get curry leave, add another 1/2 tsp of curry powder instead but it's less omph.
4 small chillies (chilli padi). The amount of chillies is depends on your taste bud, if you like it hot, add more.

1 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce,
1 tbsp of light soy sauce

Heat up 4 tbsp of oil in the frying pan. Stir fry the chopped dried shrimps under medium heat. You will smell the aroma of the dried shrimp instantly. Good, keep stirring for about 1/2 minute.

Add in the finely chopped shallots, garlic and curry leave, saute the mixture off and on.

Add the curry powder, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Stir fry for about 1 minute. Just like that. Simple.

Yes, no salt, just add a pinch of sugar to taste.

If at anytime you found yourself lost control because you are too slow, then lower the heat.

Lion Dance Came to Celebrate

2008-03-09T17:19:00.000+08:00

During the Chinese New Year 2008 last month, on the Chap Goh Mei (the 15th day of the new year), Lion Dance came to celebrate! Yes, at my house.

Recipe for Butter Chicken

2008-03-07T20:59:00.010+08:00

Butter chicken is very easy to prepare and it is very delicious. It smells great deal to the aroma of the butter and the evaporated milk.

The very first step is to marinate the chopped chicken pieces ( about 10 small pieces) with the following ingredients for at least 30 minute:

1 1/2 tbsp of curry powder
1 tbsp of oyster source
a pinch of salt

Fry it in the hot oil under the medium heat.

Step 2 will require you to prepare the following items:

50 ml of evaporated milk
1-2 tbsp butter
Onion cut into cube size
some chopped red chili, preferably chili padi

Now we are ready to cook this yummy butter chicken.

Melt the butter over low heat in a frying pan. Pour the evaporated milk over the butter, follow by onion and red chili. Stir the ingredients for a little while. Add the fried chicken into it. Now stir-fry the chicken in medium heat until the sauce was thicken and that they were evenly coated with the sauce.

That's all. They are ready. Butter chicken is best to serve with lettuce and cucumber.

When you are bored with chicken, you can replace chicken with fried prawn, they are equally delicious.

Before & After

2008-03-06T23:03:00.008+08:00

We never give up, do we?

So we baked cupcakes for the second time.

Let's compare:

Before

After

See the significant improvement?! The cakes were tasty too, I would say this time they are above average.

Jenn's classmates have tasted the 2nd batch and they asked for more!!

Good work, Jenn! Way to go!

Cakes in the cups - CUPCAKES

2008-03-04T20:47:00.002+08:00

We first tried cupcakes at The Apartment @ The Curve. The cakes were well decorated but we weren't really fancy about the cake somehow.

Then we tried the cupcakes at the Cupcakes Chic. Jenn and I sort of crazy about it as they look so beautiful and lovely.

Nice to hold, excited to see, good to taste. Jenn said Yummy. (if you have sweet tooth) but they are too sweet for me.

I bought some cupcakes from the Taman Tun market as well. This is the mini version. Gorgeous with its tiny size. Lovely.

Then Jenn found the new shop - Wondermilk @ Uptown Damansara. Jenn's excitement was indescribable. She is like oh my god, oh my god.... she holding them just like people holding the holy grail, no regret to buy her so many cupcakes, her happiness worth every penny.

Aren't they LOVELY? And they are really tasty too!!

So we decided to try our hand at it.

The taste was below average. The decoration is limited by our imagination. But to me, they are marvelous job.

Well done Jenn.

New Chapter

2008-03-01T13:05:00.003+08:00

I have been reading blogs written by those wonderful bloggers. Never thought that I will be blogging one day. When I was young, I used to write diary. I would record down the happening surrounding me, my experiences, even private thoughts deep in my heart. And the diary came with a small lock, sort of keeping your thought in a hidden place......it is private, it is unsharable......

But today, things have changed, people blog to share ... let's see ...