Cucur Udang / Prawn Fritters : Guest Blogging on Rasa Malaysia

Past few weekends had been hectic for me, myself & I. All the last minute work to get done, weddings to attend, and etc etc, I don't have much time to cook & blog. However, about a week back Bee of Rasa Malaysia invited me to be a guest blogger on Rasa Malaysia. Well, what more? I decided to be part of her initiative to showcase some of the favourite Malay food :-)

I decided to make Cucur Udang (prawn fritters) for the guest post. Cucur Udang is no doubt one of Malaysian's favourite tea time snacks. Deep fried to perfection, this savoury snack is sure to make you drool.
Click here to read about my Cucur Udang recipe & view pictures of it.

Rasa Malaysia is an Asian Food Blog that showcases various Asian food & more while introducing some of Malaysia's delicious food to the world. What makes her blog unique is that she invites food bloggers to become Guest Writers on her blog, sharing their recipes from their countries.

Please hop over to www.rasamalaysia.com for some exciting journey of Asian food :-)

Fried Egg Tofu with Oyster Sauce

I disliked tofu during my younger years as a kid. Well, except for soya bean drink. I changed my mind lately and find it actually tastes good. Especially the one in the picture here.

Eat it as an appetizer, or with steamed jasmine rice, this is so good to eat. Even if you don't really like to eat tofu, or your kids don't like, try this recipe. Though I make it vegetarian today, the topping can be added with dried shrimps or anchovies.

What I love about this dish, is the softness of the tofu combined with just a little zangy crunch of the aromatic fried garlic. Then there is the oyster sauce that adds a little taste of saltiness to the whole picture.
:: Recipe ::

1 tube egg tofu, cut to 5-8 pieces, depending on size of the tofu
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds

1. Fry the chopped garlic with the sesame oil (do add cooking oil enough for frying along with the sesame oil). Stir untl golden brown & place aside.

2. With the same pan, fry the 5 pieces of tofu, 2-3 minutes on each side until slightly golden. Place on serving plate while you move on to the sauce.

3. You can directly put oyster sauce on the tofu but what i did, with the remaining little bit of sesame oil on the pan, I pour the oyster sauce & sort of mix it with the oil & toasted sesame seeds. It makes it more tasty!

4. Put some oyster sauce on each tofu, then garnish with the fried garlic & sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on to complete.
Do you have a similar recipe? Do share it with me! I would love to learn to cook many food that calls for tofu in it! :-)

Tang Yuan / Glutinous Rice Balls in Syrup

Tang Yuan looks simple. Round balls in a clear broth. You never know what it would taste like. Or what's inside those balls. And what each colour represents. I don't know either. I do know that I love eating Tang Yuan each year.

To a few origins, Tang Yuan is served on very special occasion to mark a festival or a season. I've read that it is associated to the celebration of the Lantern Festival, Winter Solstice and also Chinese New Year.

This time around, I indulged myself into the Chinese culture of my mother's side, and made Tang Yuan. I never knew how to make these, but thanks to the world wide web and food bloggers, I managed to find the ingredients used. My mum instantly advised me of how much of this and that should be used. And it was a success for a first time.

I bought the ready made rice flour from Tesco. They had 3 choices: White, white & green or white & pink. I honestly wanted all 3 colours in a pack but I just can't find any. Well, not to waste the rice flour later, I decided to just get the white & pink ones.

Ingredients
glutinous rice flours (I bought ready made ones from Tesco)
100gm rock sugar
2 pandan leave
1 jug of water

1. Because my rice flour was ready made, I just had to roll them into small balls. As the flour might get dry, do standby a small bowl of water in case u need to add a few drops when you are rolling the flour into balls. Put them aside.
2. Prepare 2 pots & 1 bowl: 2 medium one to prepare the syrup, and to cook the rice balls and 1 bowl with cold water to "cool" the balls after boiling.
3. In a boiling pot, cook the rice balls until they float which means they're cooked. Be careful as the balls tend to stick or break before cooking. Transfer those floating ones into a small bowl of cool water.
4. In another pot, heat water up with about 1 jug of water. Add in pandan leave and rock sugar and bring to boil. This would be the syrup for the rice balls.
5. Once syrup is ready, turn off heat & pour in the rice balls. Now, it is ready to be served, hot or cold.

I like it cold. And I always like to have it in the afternoon when it is hot, which makes tang yuan so cooling! :-)

Wedding favours to choose!

Dear Readers,

As the days come closer to my wedding day, there are just so many preparations to make and also ensure that I do not miss a thing.

I’ve made reservations for the venue where the dinner is to be held. I’ve ordered food but am thinking of ordering extra because I recalculated the headcounts and seems that the guest list keeps getting bigger (really need to look into this one quickly!).

I have 2 gowns to wear for 2 occasions in one day, one for my akad nikah (solemnisation) and the other for my dinner. I’ve managed to pick up the first one, and this weekend I really need to go to the tailor to design the second one.

Met a florist online, with a reasonable and interesting package – nice person too. Was supposed to meet him one of the weekends in December but had never had the time because each weekend in December so far, I’ve had functions to attend to. Seriously need to meet up with my florist soon.

We plan to get our cards designed and printed by next month the latest. And we have not draw the map or sketch the information of what we need for the invitation card.

So as you can see, I need help. All that I can get. This is where you come in to help. I am rather undecided on my wedding favours and need your ideas on this one. Please vote one of the following by leaving a comment.

Question: Which of the following items would make a good wedding favour?
1. Small box of chocolates
2. Wooden Chinese Fan
3. Potpourri in a Flower Sachet
4. Bunga Telur (Traditional Malay boiled egg in a flower packaging/box)
5. Small box of cake
6. Any other suggestion?

With this, I hopefully make a better decision on the wedding favour!

Deep Fried Fish with Garlic & Chili

Heavenly garlic and spicy chilis... Note: for those who cannot eat spicy food, don't you worry, as much (and perhaps scary) chilis are on top of the beautifully deep fried fish, it is not that spicy, really.

Besides Sweet & Sour Fish & Steamed Fish, this is my favourite type of fish dish. I like it for it's garlic flavour with a touch of spiciness. It just compliments the fried fish very well. This recipe - is from my mother, unfortunately we forgot where the idea came from. I think, it may have come from a Thai origin - the use of lots of chili and garlic.

I wonder how it would taste like with salmon... :-0 should be nice too! The beauty of cooking is that, you adjust the taste accorfing to you, your taste, and not necessarily according to recipes by other people/maganizes/books, etc. I guess in this case, the garlic and chilis... I know some who may prefer less of these ingredients. Somehow, which ever it is, I think this makes a great seafood dish during the days when you get bored of poultry meat...

White flesh fish that is good for deep frying would suit this recipe. In my case, my dad caught this fish and we informally call this in Bahasa Malaysia "Ikan tudung periuk" which translates to something like "Pot Cover Fish" because of its oval-ish shape. :-) sounds funny!

:: Garlic & Chili Fish ::
1 whole medium fish, cleansed & marinate with a little bit of turmeric powder (about 1/2 -1 teaspoon turmeric powder)
1/2 cup birds eye chili, chopped (as much/little as you'd like)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, mix with 3 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon salt & pepper
1 tablespoon corn flour, mix with 1 tablespoon warm water (to thicken gravy)

1. At the body of the fish, make 3-4 vertical slit on body of fish.
2. Deep fry the fish until golden brown & transfer to a serving plate.
3. With a little bit of cooking oil, fry the chopped garlic until aromatic.
4. Add in the oyster sauce mixture & the chopped chilis & stir until it comes to a boil.
5. Add salt & pepper, and the gravy should be almost done.
6. Mix in the corn flour mixture to thicken the gravy, stirring.
7. Pour the gravy over the deep fried fish & serve with steamed rice.

I do hope you enjoyed my seafood adventure so far, all with my dad's fishing trip. We've been having lots of fresh seafood! There are times when he would not get any catch, but when he does we get to enjoy fresh seafood :-)

Till then, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all my readers! Happy Holidays too! :-)

Beef & Capsicum Spaghetti

I think this is one of the first food I started cooking. When I was younger, and not knowing much about pasta, I thought that spaghetti is normally cooked with tomato sauce and beef. Now, pasta is a must-have in my kitchen. No matter what size and shape. I think that it is just perfect to cook a quick and simple meal, especially during days when I've had too much of Malaysian food.

Sometimes I buy ready made pasta sauces, from Leggo, Barilla, Dolmio, etc... And sometimes, I whip up my own recipes. I happened to have a can of chopped tomatoes which has been lying in the kitchen shelf for months... and my mum suddenly asked me "This can is starting to get rusty, are you going to ever cook the tomatoes?" Whoops. I totally forgot about that can of tomatoes. Not to worry, expiry is far still!

From the leftover 1/2 a pack of spaghetti, I made this simple beef and capsicum pasta for my family over lunch last Tuesday. Nothing specific, ust using ingredients which we already have in the kitchen. This is a light sauce recipe with a tinge of spiciness. Perfect for those who may find the usual pasta sauce too thick/sour.

boiled pasta, according to instructions.
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon Italian herbs
cup of chopped red and green capsicum
cup of minced beef
1/3 carrot, grated
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3-5 small green chilis, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste

To cook pasta sauce, start with frying the chopped onions and garlic. Sprinkle the Italian herbs, then beef. Add chilis and then the can of tomatoes. Throw in grated carrot, add a dash of salt and pepper and stir. Add the parmesan cheese and finally chopped capsicums.

Spoon the sauce over pasta and serve :-)

Pan Fried Bread with Eggs & Tandoori Cheese Chicken Sausages

A breakfast with a twist today. Bread and eggs are good breakfast food that we should have. While I normally go for multigrain bread, my favourite is always the normal white bread. Both tastes good. I like my eggs with lots of onions and tomatoes. And while this is enough, I sometimes add sausages to make my breakfast more complete. Afterall, who does not love sausages??!

When I have leftover sauces or marinades, I like to use them to modify my cookings. And while tandoori sounds good with chicken, I decided to mix a spoonful of it with my chicken sausages. Initially unsure of how it might taste like, I took my chances. How wrong could I go?

It turned out yummily. Yum Yum Yum. Finished within seconds. I cut the sausages into smaller pieces, mixed a spoonful of tandoori marinade (the one I had was in powder form) and just shake to cover it. Nothing else added. The sausage I used had cheese in it which, beautifully melted as I cook away.

If you like eating Tandoori Chicken chances are, you would love this recipe. It does not take much to prepare and cooking time is short n sweet!

Recipe for 2
:: Part I - Pan Fried Bread with Eggs ::
4 loaf bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 red tomato, chopped
1 medium greem onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon parsley
pinch of salt
a few dashes of pepper
1 teaspoon tomato sauce

Except for bread loafs, mix everything else in a bowl (use one that you can later dip the bread easily). Heat up a large frying pan with olive oil. Soak the bread, one by one, in the egg mixture only for a few seconds enough to vover the bread with egg and the onions and tomatoes (too long you might soak up the egg in the bread making it soggy). Then fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side over small medium heat. It's cooked when it's slightly browned. Transfer to a plate and finish ith remaining bread.

:: Part II - Tandoori Cheese Chicken Sausages ::
4 Chicken with Cheese sausages
1 tablespoon tandoori mix

Cut sausages into smaller pieces and place them in a bowl. Mix well with tandoori marinade and fry for 5 minutes over medium heat or until sausages start darken (tandoori will have a deep red/brown colour). Add some lemon juice, thinly cut onions for the extra tandoori oomph! :-)

Kepah Masak Cili Padi (Spicy Chili Clams)

I promise this is not a "clams only" food blog. Yes, my previous post was something to do with clams also. Here's the thing - it's the school holidays here in Malaysia, and my two precious nephews are here. My dad took them to a small island nearby for a picnic and also managed to dig out a bucket of siput kepah (clams). They're about 3-5cm in length, mostly in shades of greyish-brown with simple line patterns on them.

There are many delicious recipes for cooking kepah. Rasa Malaysia loves clams and she has made many delicious clam recipes for us. I sure wish I could visit her and bring some clams along :-P. You may like to browse thru her clam recipes!

The other day, Sue made Spagheti Aglio Olio using prawns and fresh white clams. Today, she made 2 types of clams: Savoury Clams (which, I was not around to enjoy) and Spicy Chili Clams.
Spicy Chili Clams is Sue's own recipe which calls for very spicy bird's eye chilis and is very simple to make.

:: Recipe ::
Bird's eye chili, pounded (as much/little as you like)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cube ikan bilis (anchovies) stock
1 tespon sugar
1 teaspoon parsley (use fresh parsley if you have)
Kepah (clams) 500gm
olive oil, for cooking
Heat up a large pan with olive oil. We prefer olive oil for health reasons but generally, in Malaysia, olive oil is rather expensive. Any vegetable oil will do, really. Then throw in the chopped garlic and stir. Hmmphh, don't you just loveee the smell of the garlic being fried? It makes me hungry instantly. I think the smell is like an appetizer, it makes me smile, happy, hungry, and want food!
Then, fry the pounded chili. Here we have colourful chilis just for fun. We have these growing in our garden, so grabbing a bunch of different colours just adds fun! Pounding the chilis brings out the flavours and the spiciness. If you cut them, it's also ok, and probably less spicy. Just throwing the whole chili in would make it less spicy.
Throw in the clams and cover for 3-5 minutes until clams open up. Clams, if alive before cooking may spit out quite some saltwater, so it is best that you leave them in a dry bowl for at least 30 minutes to force them to spit out as much salt water in them. Otherwise, you will be drinking salt water clam soup. :-) Salt is also almost unnecessary here. A dash of white wine would be brilliant for cooking clams too.
They beautiful greyish colour now turn orange and the clams are almost cooked. Sprinkle the ikan bilis cube, just to add some flavouring and stir. Add in the parsley flakes (or freshly chopped parsley) and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes.
As this was a last minute recipe, we made it quite simple. There were a few more ingredients that we wanted to add to make it more interesting: chopped tomatoes, fresh lemongrass and even the fresh parsley. Am sure it would taste delicious too!
This is in deed a very spicy dish because of the pounded chilis we put in. I enjoyed eating the clams, and the soup was very tasty though such a simple recipe. As we ate quite a lot of clams, I think I shall retire from eating clams for a few months to come. Leaving some clams for you clamaholics out there! :-)

My other Clams recipe:
My Clams with Chili & Ginger recipe
Spagheti Aglio Olio, using prawns and clams

Sue's Spaghetti Aglio Olio

December is not only the last month in the year. It is a holiday mood month. And the time when families come back to spend some time at their hometown or away at a relative's home overseas. I am lucky to have my sis, Sue who came home since last Saturday. She cooks. Deliciously. Today, she made pasta aglio olio for the family.

I love pasta and I certainly love clams. Imagine how fast I ate! Different from the saucy marinara, bolognese or carbonara, aglio olio is simple, and refreshing from the saucy pasta dishes. Lots of fresh flavours. I am starting to get addicted to this...

:: Recipe ::
Serves 4

1/2 box of Barilla spaghetti, cook as per instructions provided.
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
5 birds eye chili, finely chopped
1 cube ikan bilis (anchovies) stock for flavouring
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/3 carrot, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
about 1 small bowl of clams and prawns, cleaned
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
a dash of Italian herbs
a dash of black pepper
olive oil for cooking
A very simple and quick to cook recipe. Just perfect for busy people like me! Ofcourse, fresh herbs would certainly make the food taste much, much perfect! :-)
I am always unsure how much pasta should be cooked but, half a box would be enough for my family. I like my pasta al dante (almost cooked) rather than over cooked. However, you may notice many Asians prefer over cooked pasta. This is because we tend to associate pasta with noodles! :-)
I am hungry again by just blogging about this... Man! Look at those juicy clams! I think I should beg my sister to move back to Penang... just to eat her delicious food! Then again - I skipped gym today (and probably for the rest of the week while she's here) just to eat this! :-PHow to make this? Simple! Just follow the guideline below and you're just 15 minutes away from delicious pasta olio aglio... mama mia!

1. Heat pan with olive oil, fry the onions. Add tomatoes.
2. After 1 minute, add in clams and prawns and cover with lid for 5 minutes until clams open.
3. Add carrots, parsley, italian herbs, and fry to combine and cover the clams.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste and if it is too dry, add some water.
5. Toss the spaghetti in the pan, to cover and finally add in the bell pepper.
6. Place equal portions in 4 plates - do not cheat here and save more for yourself... I know it smells deliciously intoxicating but everyone wants it!
7. Serve immediately and, if you like, sprinkle some parmesan cheese to taste!