The Food That I´d Die For # 2

Everybody's mother is their best cook. My mom too is a great cook. All my friends fondly remember her for her food. Just imagine how much I would miss it.

As she works the whole day, Amma cooks quick and simple food in the night. Most of her cookings are her own creation. Almost everyday we get to taste a different type of food which will not be available elsewhere. One of the many of her masterpieces is a dish made of curried eggy potatoes and achovies. This is one of the food that I'd die for. Each time she cooks this dish, she would have to cook an extra portion of rice while the normal portion would not be sufficient.

Suddenly, today, I had this fierce feeling that I have to eat it, now!!! Though I have never cooked it before, with the guidance of my memory, I managed to cook it up. Not bad I would say but nothing beats Amma's.

Eggy Potatoes and Anchovies


What do we need:




2 potatoes, diced
2 eggs
3/4 cup dried anchovies
1/2 cup water
1 sprig curry leaves
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp fish curry powder
1 tsp fennel powder
oil
salt to taste

What do we do:

Wash the anchovies and drain the water. Set aside.

Heat oil and sauté the sliced onion, garlic and the curry leaves. Add the washed achovies. Fry until it is aromatic. Now, put in the diced potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are almost cooked. Add the curry powder and fennel powder. Simmer until the liquid becomes nearly dried. Season with salt.

Push the potatoes to the side. In the centre, pour half a tablespoon of oil and break the eggs. Before the eggs start to set, quickly stir the potatoes and the eggs together to ensure all the potatoes and anchovies are covered.

Eggy potatoe and achovies with rice and stir fried red cabbage

Serve the eggy potatoes and anchovies with hot piping rice.

PuSiVa'S CuLiNarY StUdiO is 1 Month Old!!

It has been a month since I started blogging. This morning when I logged on, I was overjoyed to find that the visitors counter has already hit more than 2000. To me it is a great achievement. At this moment, I would like to thank all those out there, throughout the globe, who has visited my blog. I realise that I now have a few regular visitors who come in on daily basis, without fail. I highly appreciate all your comments and encouragements. To celebrate it, I present Carrot Halwa as a visual treat to all of u.

Carrot Halwa

What do we need:




2 cups carrots, grated finely
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp ghee
4 cardamoms, powdered
a pinch of saffron strands
slivered almonds, garnishing

How do we do it:

Heat ghee and fry the grated carrots slightly. Pour milk and sprinkle the saffron strands. Let it boil. Cook the carrot to soft paste stage. Now, add the sugar and continue cooking while stirring. Remove from heat when the halwa looks gooey.


Serve hot or cold garnished with slivered almonds.

Weekend Baking Session # 3

This week of Weekend Baking Session, I intend to bake tarts. Been a while since I baked them. I love tarts though they are sinfull due to the amount of fat used in the pastry. I prefer baking little tartlets compared to a big ones. I think they look better and neater. I have tried out fruits, egg, coconut, cherry and lemon tarts before. This time I am going to go for orange tarts.

Orange Tartlets

What do we need:

Sweet Short Crust Pastry:


1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup butter, cold
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 an egg
1 tsp lemon juice
cold water, as necessary

Orange Filling:


3/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 1/2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar, or as desired
1/2 tbsp custard powder
1 tbsp orange zest or 1 tsp orange essence

What do we do:

Sift flour and add the sugar. Grate cold butter into the flour mixture and rub lightly with fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add lightly beaten half an egg and lemon juice. Stir in the cold water, if necessary. Knead very lightly to form smooth pastry. Wrap with a cling film and chill the pastry in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Divide the pastry dough into 10 portions. Press each portion evenly into greased tart mould. Trim edges to remove excess pastry. Prick base of each tart with a fork. Cover and chill again for about 15 minutes. Then, blind bake the pasty cases in a preheated oven at 200º C for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place the tartlets on a wire rack to cool.


Meanwhile, mix all the filling ingredients together and beat until the sugar has dissolved. Sieve the mixture to ensure that it is free of lumps. Pour the filling into each pastry case. Bake in a preheated oven at 180º C for 20 -25 minutes or until filling is set. Transfer the tartlets to wire rack to cool. Then, cover and refigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.


Serve the orange tartlet with a dollop of whipped cream.

Quick and Easy Dinner

Friday is about to come to an end. How relieved am I...... The past 2 weeks have been too hectic for me. Was terribly busy with my job. The next 2 days, I'll be spending my precious time with my little daughter and my tiny kitchen. As for tonight, initially wanted to make some rotis but then, it´s time consuming. Friday is the day that I'm on minimum energy level. So, I wanted something really quick and easy to do. After wondering a while, got the idea to make some pancakes instead but then, pancakes are too light. To make it a bit heavier, I added shredded potatoes. Also mixed baking powder to give the pancake a fluffy texture.

Potatoe Pancake




What do we need:

1 cup plain flour
1 cup shredded potatoes
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
butter or olive oil for the pan
salt to taste

How do we do it:

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Then, make a hole in the middle. Pour in the milk while stirring vigorously with a whisk until it becomes a smooth batter without lumps.

Peel & grate the potatoes and straight away add them into the mixture.

Heat a non-stick pan and grease it with a little butter or olive oil. Pour a ladleful of the of the batter. Spread it out to a prefered size. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Flip it over and continue cooking for another minutes.

Potatoe pancake with beans stew

Serve potatoe pancakes warm with curry and/or chutney.

From Leftovers To A Breakfast

As I wanted to prepare a breakfast for today, I was looking around my pantry of what I can find. I had some leftover butter braid. Then, found that I had 2 very ripe bananas that would not wait for another day. Also found a bottle of buttermilk in my fridge that was nearing it's expiry date. I thought "Oh God! I can't afford to waste all these things. I'll have to use them up by today". I wondered how to put all the 3 ingredients together. Then, came up with this recipe.

Banana Bread Pudding



What do we need:

4 slices of bread
2 bananas
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp brown sugar
Chocolate chunks, as desired

How do we do it:

Cut the bread slices into 1 inch cubes.

Grease a baking dish or a casserole with a little butter. Arrange the bread cubes in it. Set aside.

Put the bananas, buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and sugar into a blender and blend them until it becomes a smooth mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the bread cubes. Sprinkle some chocolate chunks on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for about 20-30 minutes.



I love anything with bananas. While baking, the beautiful aroma of the bananas was lingering throughout my apartment. I decided to add the chocolate chunks as chocolates and bananas are marriage made in heaven. Did not want to use chocolate chips as they are too small and tend to melt faster. So, I just chopped a bar of chocolate, of course Swiss Chocolate, into big chunks and sprinkled them on top.

Banana bread pudding is best served warm or cold with chocolate sauce, if desired.

Nibbles For My Toddler # 1

My daughter, Mahisha, loves biscuits as her snack. I do not prefer buying commercially baked biscuits for her. So, I always bake my own little biscuits for her. I feel satisfied when I see her enjoy biting them. The last batch of biscuits has finished and she wanted more. I make sure I do not repeat the same kind of biscuits. Was wondering of what other variety to bake. Checked out my pantry and found that I have 2 packets of apricots. This time, I wanted to bake something quite similar to rock buns but a softer version. After spinning my brain for a while, came up with a new recipe. The simplest possible as I did had much time to sit on it for a few hours.

Apricot Cookies



What do we need:

1 cup plain flour
1 cup chopped apricots
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ground almond
3 tbsp apricot preserve
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence/flavouring
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

How do we do it:

First of all, soak the apricot in warm water for a while to soften it. U can also use those soft type of apricots as well. Pat dry them with kitchen towel and chop them finely.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Make a hole in the middle, add the rest of the ingredients except for the chopped apricots. With a mixer, beat for 1 minute. If u do not have a mixer, use a hand whisk and beat for 5 minutes. Now, fold in the chopped apricots.

Drop the dough by teaspoonful on a baking sheet. I did it with just half a teaspoon to make little ones. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for 10 - 12 minutes. This recipe yields 85 tiny little pieces.



I prefer using brown sugar to normal white sugar as the former is less sweet than the latter. I have also minimised the sugar usage as the apricot preserve and the apricots are sweet enough. Added the apricot preserve for extra apricot taste. The purpose of using the almond meal is to give the buns a fuller shape.

Mahisha likes the cookies. Well, not just her, hubby and I too love them. Looks like I will have to bake more of them again.

The Food That I'd Die For # 1

We don't tend to appreciate our home when we are at home. Same goes to food from home. I realised this when I was pregnant. I was craving for only home food. Had to go thru all the hassles of searching for the recipe, looking around for the ingredients and cooking it up. Finally, I wanted to taste only a spoonfull of it. The rest, who else than my hubby who eats them up.

Now, for that past month, I have been wanting to eat prawn sambal. Normally, prawn sambal is cooked with unpeeled prawns. I do not prefer that as it is very troublesome to eat like that though cooking so retains the juices of the prawns. I like it peeled and deveined. Easier to eat. My mom adds fried potatoes to prawn sambal. I love the irresistible taste of the potatoes mixed with the juices of the prawns. In a word, the potatoes taste like prawn.

I am adapting my mom's method of adding the potatoes and I have included some kaffir lime leaves for the citrusy aroma. Also subtituted tamarind juice with lime juice for the extra tanginess. The rest are the normal vital sambal ingredients.

Prawn Sambal



What do we need:

500g prawns
2 potatoes
1/4 cup coconut milk (I used fresh milk)
2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely
1 tbsp lime juice
oil
sugar
salt

Sambal Paste:
4 dried chillies (depends to individual)
5 shallots or 1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch fresh turmeric (I substituted with 1 tsp of turmeric powder)
1 inch galangal or blue ginger
1 lemon grass
1/2 tsp belacan granules (shrimp paste)

How do we do it:

Sambal Paste:

Heat a little oil and fry the dried chillies until aromatic. Set aside.

Chop coarsely the onion, garlic, galangal and lemon grass. Pop them into a food processor together with the fried dried chillies, turmeric powder and the belacan granules. Grind until smooth.

Sambal Paste

Prawn Sambal:

Peel and dice the potatoes. Heat oil and fry them until golden brown. Set aside.

Meanwhile, peel and de-vein the prawns. Set aside.

Heat oil and fry the sambal paste until aromatic and the oil separates. Add prawns and lime juice. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until prawns turn red. Add the fried potatoes and kaffir lime leaves. Then, season and stir well.

Prawn Sambal with Plain Rice ad Stir Fried Broccoli and Carrot

Serve prawn sambal with hot piping rice.

Weekend Baking Session # 2

Some 3 months ago there was this craze called The CCC Craze around the food forums in SE Asia. I did not wanted to join it though as it is my nature that I always do something that others are not or no more doing it. Well, since the CCC craze has now subsided, it's time that I bake it.

This recipe was posted by Kirsten in Jo's Deli & Bakery Message Board. For the 2nd week of WBS, Chocolate Cheese Layered Cake is the chosen one.

Chocolate Cheese Layered Cake

What do we need:



A
250g cream cheese
60g castor sugar
1 egg


B
180g butter
150g sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
120g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

How do we do it:

Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well incorporated. Set mixture aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, one at a time until well incorporated into mixture. Sieve all the dried ingredients together. Fold into egg mixture.

To assemble, pour half of mixture ‘B’, then all of mixture ‘A’, then remaining mixture ‘B’. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for 45-50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Once cool, chill in refrigerator.



Well, I did not expect it to look like this. Shapewise, I guess, I did not really do good job. It is not supposed to be wavy. There should be three parallel equal sized layers. I will have to bake this cake again and do it correctly the next time.

Tastewise, I think I have done it right as I like it very much.

A Bowl of Goodness

Soups could be one of the quickest and easiest food. I do have them quite often. Each time I try cooking a different kind of soup. This time planned to try potatoe and leek soup, since I have all the ingredients ready with me.

Potatoe and Leek Soup

What do we need:

4 potatoes, diced
3 leeks, sliced (white part only)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cream
1 tbsp chives, chopped

What do we do:

Melt the butter in a pot on medium heat. Sauté the onion and the leeks for 10 minutes until they are soft. Then, add the potatoes and pour in the vegetable broth.

Season with salt and pepper. When it starts to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer until the potatoes are cooked.

Remove from heat. Blend the soup until it is smooth without any lumps. Pour the cream into the blended mixture and transfer it to the stove again. Stir continuosly. Remove from heat when the soup just starts to boil. Sprinkle the chopped chives onto the soup.




Serve potatoe and leek soup hot with plain or toasted bread

A Complete Meal

When I´m too tired, the only food that I could think of cooking would be fried rice. It is very fast and easy to prepare yet a completely balanced meal with carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals.

I had some frozen mixed seafood in the fridge. So, made up my mind to cook fried rice using it. When cooking fried rice, never use freshly cooked hot pipping rice. This is because it will turn soggy afer being cooked again as fried rice. Always use leftover rice or cook the rice few hours ahead and let it cool completely.

Seafood Fried Rice




What do we need:

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup frozen green peas
1 cup canned corn kernels
1-2 cups mixed seafood
1 tbsp, finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp, finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp chili paste or 1 tsp chili powder
2 eggs
oil
onion crisps, garnishing

Seasoning:
2 tbsp tomatoe ketchup
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
a splash of sesame oil
salt to taste

How do we do it:

Heat oil and fry ginger, garlic and chili paste until aromatic. Add the seafood and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Now, in goes the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the rice gradually while stirring. Season and stir.

Make a hole in the middle. Pour a little oil & break the the eggs. Season it with a pinch of salt. When the eggs start to set, quickly stir the rice together with the egg thoroughly to ensure the eggs cover all the rice.



Serve seafood fried rice immediately with a sprinkle of onion crisps and few slices of cucumber.