CLEAR SOUP ASSAM FISH

Clear Soup Assam Fish

is my favourite.

I love this Assam Fish because I can drink as much soup I want.

The soup is flavourful,

a mixture of sweet, sour, salty and a little spicy

in just the right combination for me

because I cannot take very spicy food.

It is so yummy to go with white rice.

I like to cook this with kampong fish.

Sometimes, I will add some okra if available.

If not, plain is just as good.

Here are some of the ingredients:

4 slices old ginger
1 Tbsp garlic, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp shallots, sliced thinly
2 lemongrass, smashed
1 bunga kantan, sliced lengthwise
3 limau perut leave
3 slices dried assam
1-2 Tbsp cooking oil
4 bowls of stock, adjust according to size of fish
2 fresh chilli, large
2 chilli padi, can add more if you prefer spicy
2 Tbsp chilli oil, I made my own
2 Tbsp thick assam juice, extract from paste
salt & sugar to taste

2 kampong fish
5 okra
1 small tomato, quartered

1. heat up cooking oil a pan

2. add ginger, garlic, lemongrass and shallots, fry until fragrant

3. pour in 4 bowls of stock, add assam pieces & bring to a boil

4. once boiled, add chillies, chilli oil, assam juice, okra & tomato, cook for 5 min

5. add fish, salt & sugar to taste

6. do not over cook the fish. Once cooked, serve hot!

CHILLI OIL

Chilli Oil
so bright the colour!

Some people like to drizzle some chilli oil in their soupy noodle,
while others like to use it as a dipping sauce.

I like to use it in some of the dishes.

It is not spicy
but the bright red colour makes the food looks appetizing.

There are many brands of chilli oil sold in the market,
but I prefer to cook my own.

Afterall. a batch will last me for quite awhile,
so no need to cook often.

If you are interested,
I use only 3 ingredients as follows:

2 Tbsp chilli flakes

40g freshly minced garlic

150ml cooking oil

1. place chilli flakes in a bowl, leave aside

2. put minced garlic and oil in a pan, turn on medium heat.

3. when oil is hot, a lot of bubbles will appear, now can lower the heat

4. stir constantly

5. once the garlic STARTS to turn brown, turn off heat, continue stirring

6. when the garlic has finally turned brown, strain the hot oil into the bowl of chilli flakes

7. leave to cool, then store in a bottle

Note:

1. the crispy garlic bits can be stored and used in cooking

SAMBAL BELACAN

Sambal Belacan
a popular Malaysian Chilli Sauce,
goes well with any form of noodles, either fried or soupy.

If you love spicy sauce
you will love this
as it has the extra flavour of sourness of added lime juice!

Lime is rather rare and expensive,
so many use calamnasi or lemon to replace it.

Some like the chilli blended fine like mine
while others prefer it to be a bit coarse like the one shared by Linda Ooi.

Only 3 simple ingredients, namely chilli, belacan and lime.
Just combine them!

Sambal Belacan 

1.5 Tbsp belacan, toasted in a dry pan

8 fresh chillis, seeds removed & cut rounghly

2 chilli padi (can add more if prefer more spicy)

juice from 1 lime

1. all ingredients except lime juice, blended to the texture you like

2. add lime juice and mix well

3. serve in a saucer

4. store reminder in the refrigerator

If you cannot finish, you can use it to cook

Sambal Belacan Fish

by blending some shallots
 and
mix it with the Sambal Belacan
to stuff inside the fish.

Fry until fragrant!

Sambal Belacan Prawns & Pineapple

BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE DESSERT

Pulut Hitam

or Black Sticky Rice

is unpolished Black Glutinous Rice,

full of beneficial minerals.

Recent research has found it to be a cancer-fighting Superfood.

Black Pulut Porridge 

is one of the few desserts that 

a new mother is able to enjoy during the confinement month.

You will get a plain black pulut dessert in most of the hawkers' stall,

served with a splash of coconut cream on top.

If you are cooking your own,

you can cook it with either dried longan or red beans.

Sometimes, white glutinous rice

 is added to give the extra smooth texture to the dessert.

Sharing with you this recipe:

Black Glutinous Rice Porridge

150g black pulut rice, soaked 2 hours & drained

800ml water

2 pandan leaves, knotted

75-100g sugar

pinch of salt

To serve:

thick coconut cream or santan 

1. combine black glutinous rice, water & bring to a boil

2. once boiled, add pandan leaves & cook until soft. 

    Add more water if the liquid dries up. 

    I used the pressure cooker to do the job.

3. once done, remove pandan leaves & add sugar and salt

4. serve with some coconut cream as topping.

Have some left over dessert?

Convert it to 

Black Pulut Ice Potong!

Oh dear, cook too much?

Still have?

Make a Black Glutinous Rice Sponge Cake like me.

BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE SPONGE CAKE

Having some left over Black Glutinous Rice Dessert?

You can use it up by baking a sponge cake as shared by
honeybeesweets88.blogspot.com

This cake
is soft, moist and aromatic.

Black Glutinous Rice Sponge Cake

(A) 3 large egg yolk

      100g cooked black pulut porridge, at room temperature.

      30g cooking oil

      50g coconut cream/milk

      30g water

      80g cake flour

(B) 3 egg white

      65g sugar

1. blend pulut & oil until fine, pour into a mixing bowl

2. add egg yolks, coconut cream and water, whisk together

3. sift in cake flour and mix well. leave aside

4. in another bowl, whisk egg white. Gradually add sugar. 

    whisk until stiff peaks

5. in 3 separate portions, fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture

6. pour into a 20cm tube pan, or 17cm round pan

7. bake in preheated oven 160'C for 40-50min 

8. test with a skewer, when done remove from oven & invert to cool

9. gently unmould when cooled

BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE ICE POTONG

Black Glutinous Rice Ice Potong
a cool way to use up the remaining Black Pulut dessert.

1 cup thick black pulut dessert

3/4-1 cup thick coconut milk

20g sugar

50g water

Note: 

both sugar & water need to be adjusted 

according to the thickness of your dessert

1. bring to a boil black pulut dessert, water and sugar

2. add coconut milk & remove from heat

3. let cool & fill plastic bags 1/3 full

4. tie the bag & freeze the tubes upright like this

    

Enjoy!

SIMPLE BOLOGNESE SAUCE

 Bolognese Sauce

Simple it may be,
it has not lost its Italian Identity,

as oregano is not neglected in its preparation.

This sauce freezes well.

Simply defrost, heat up and add cooked meat to serve. 

A good stock boiled with bones

will add much flavour to the sauce.

If you do not have any ready broth,

can use water and shake in some Aromat as seasoning.

If you are interested in this super easy 

Bolognese Sauce,

here is the recipe:

Easy Bolognese Sauce

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup stock

1 cup homemade tomato sauce

2 large onions, chopped fine

3 pips garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Salt, pepper & sugar to taste

1) heat oil in a pan

2) add onions & garlic, fry until fragrant and dry

3) add stock, oregano, tomato sauce and bring to a boil

4) season with salt, pepper and sugar 

5) reduce heat to simmer until onions are soft, about 20 min

6) dish up 

If you wish to cook the sauce with spaghetti,

Spaghetti in Bolognese Sauce

100g of minced meat

1 Tbsp olive oil

Spaghetti 

Grated cheese, if used

1) heat up olive oil in a pan

2) fry minced meat until cooked

3) add the Bolognese Sauce & simmer for awhile

4) meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to the package instructions

5) drain the spaghetti, pour Bolognese Sauce over & serve topped with grated cheese if used

LEMON TARTS

Lemon Tarts

Sy Yong from Oladybakes
takes pride in this simple 3 ingredients tart shell which is
crumbly and buttery inside,
and
crusty outside.

The filling is simply perfect,
Fragrant and flavourful.
The way I like it!

Tart Shell 

80g salted butter

130g plain flour

25g condense milk

Lemon Curd

2 large eggs

80g lemon juice

80g sugar

zest from 1 lemon

60g salted butter

Method:

1) cream butter & condense milk until light

2) add flour & mix into a dough, rest dough for 20min

3) press dough into tart pans, poke holes at the base with a fork

4) bake at 180'C for 18-20min, remove & cool on a rack

5) in a ceramic or glass bowl, stir to combine eggs, lemon juice, sugar & zest

6) place the bowl over a pot of water on the stove

7) heat gently over the pot of simmering water, stir constantly with a hand whisk

8) the mixture will become very foamy, and soon thicken like a gel, it is ready.

9) Remove from heat & cool for 5min

10) mix in butter, stir to mix well, 

11) spoon into tart shells & chill before serving

DEEP FRIED BANANA

Crispy Deep Fried Banana

is

a popular Street Food

As it is deep fried,

we will not have it often,

but

 we cannot possibly stop at one piece once we have our hands on it!

This recipe is simple.

The crispness can only last for an hour or two.

I am quite happy with the results.

If you are interested,

I gladly share this recipe with you.

Deep Fried Banana

5 Tbsp rice flour

1 Tbsp plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

Pinch of turmeric powder

5 Tbsp water

1/4 tsp baking powder (add when ready to fry)

1) mix flours,  salt, turmeric powder and water. 

    The batter should be quite thick, able to coat the banana

2) peel bananas & cut into 1/2 lengthwise

3) heat up oil for deep frying 

4) when the oil is ready, add baking powder to the batter, mix well

5) dip banana into the batter & drop into the hot oil

6) fry until golden, remove & drip the oil

CHOCOLATE HOT CROSS BUNS

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns! One A Penny! Two A Penny! Hot Cross Buns! If You Have No Daughters! Give Them To Your Sons! One A Penny! Two A Penny! Hot Cross Buns!

I have adapted this recipe from bakeforhappykids

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

(makes 9 buns in an 8" square pan)

Bread Dough

220g water

300g bread flour

25g milk powder

40g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

10g cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla seeds scraped from 1 bean

35g butter

1 tsp instant yeast

100g chocolate chips

For the Cross

2 Tbsp self-raising flour

1.5 Tbsp cold water

For the Glaze

1 Tbsp caster sugar

1/2 Tbsp boiling water

Bread Dough

1) all ingredients except chocolate chips, into the bread machine, 

    bread dough cycle 1.5 hours. At last 3 min, add chocolate chips.

2) divide into 9 parts, shape & arrange on oiled square pan to rise 1 hour

For the cross

3) next, mix flour with water, put into a piping bag, 

    snip off the end to make a fine hole. Pipe a cross on top of the bun

4) bake bun in preheated oven 180'C for 20min

For the glaze

5) while baking the bread, mix sugar and boiling water until sugar is mostly dissolved.

    Do not add more water! Set aside

6) brush a layer of glaze on warm buns