Craving for tempoyak

Today I ada rajin sikit. Got to spend my Saturday in a proper way. Just doing nothing and spent time watching tv. Since I couldn't decide what to have for lunch, I just ate mi sedap and had iced coffee. Then watched VIP. Tonight they gonna play Parasite on tvN Movies channel. And I cooked for dinner. This is a wrapped up for today.

I was craving for tempoyak since the past two days. Only today got to cook it. I don't eat durian but am so in love with tempoyak. 

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Ingredients : Tempoyak, chilli, turmeric powder, anchovies, sugar, oil (for cooking)

Can I not explain anything and just post the photos? Sorry not so sorry, forever in this life, my photo taking skill won't upgrade.

Mix well the tempoyak with chilli, turmeric powder, and sugar. 

Fry the anchovies till slightly brown. 

How do you say it? Is it crispy or crunchy? 

Set aside. Owh by the way, I did this because I want the taste of the anchovies blend well with the tempoyak. And to keep the anchovies crispy when add them into the tempoyak later on. 

😂😂😂

Fry the tempoyak till it turns brown. When it turns brown, it means that the sugar is melting. It starts to caramelised. Then add on the fried anchovies. Fry well. 

The outcome will look like this

😁😁😁

Taaaa-daaaa

👇👇👇👇👇👇

Moving onto the next one. I have no ideas how to call this dish. Ayam masak kicap? Not really. I've decided to call it Any Chicken Dish. 

😅😅😅😅

Ingredients: Chicken meat (any parts ikut suka hati kamu), ginger, garlic, lemongrass (all these 3, just slice them thinly), dried chilli (soak into hot water and cut them into two to three parts, drain them), 2 asam keping (I have no ideas how to say it in English. Kalau engkau rajin, engkau Google kan.), oyster sauce and thick soy sauce (ikut suka hati dirik empun), and oil for cooking.

Now photo time!

Do it like this👇👇👇👇

After you mixed everything, close them like this. To keep the moist

 of the chicken meats lock inside the meat. So that the meat juice doesn't vaporate into the air. Sayang jus ayam ya hilang.. Let the chicken meat cook first, then add oyster sauce and thick soy sauce. Salt and ajinomoto. Hahaha. Ajinomoto. Whatever. 

Mix well

And it will look like this

👇👇👇👇

Nay nay. Don't add sugar into this dish. I miss out one ingredient. It is a must add on. I wanted to add on but I found out it is already expired. Secret ingredient? Ha-ah.

"SESAME OIL"

This dish is not complete without sesame oil. You should add on a little bit.

Ok ok. Let's move on to the next one. The last dish for dinner tonight. Hi-ih. 

The most easiest dish. Tauge goreng. 😂😂😂

Ingredients : Tauge (bean sprouts), tauhu (bean curds), garlic, chilli (these 2 slice them thinly), salt and ajinomoto. Ajinomoto lagi. Seasoning is the greatest when it comes to cooking. 

🤣🤣🤣

Owh, oil for cooking. 

Photo time

Macam ini👇👇👇👇

Then goreng goreng macam ini. Malas aku mok explain, eh. Hati jak teringin nak upload, nak explain it's a no-no.

And at last!

Taaa-daaaa

Saja jak nak ngasak hati kitak orang. 

😏😏😏😏😏😏

Don't mind on the look of the kuali. It's antic, ok. Kuali itu sangat berharga despite of how it looks. 

😅😅😅😅😅

That were all for dinner tonight. Four minutes passed midnight now. Well spent Saturday. I thought of not going out from home today but in the end I did go out. Just because I need to buy our cats foods. 🐱🐱🐱🐱

Hanya kucing yang bisa mengalahkan aku. 

💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️💁‍♀️

Goodbye 2019, Hello 2020!

Yup! 2019 is ended, 2020 has begun.

I went back to my hometown for almost two weeks. I spent my semester break there. Far away from electromagnetic wave. 😏😏😏😏

Did lot of things there, Christmas was well, new year was well spent too. Aaaa, I didn't take photos that much this year. We held Christmas prayer in our tiny home for the first time too.
It's the fruit season now there at my village. Sadly, I don't eat durian. So I skipped that, rambutan and langsat too, many many fruits this year. I mean 2019, until today in 2020. Some hasn't ripen yet. Anytime from now. Durian, rambutan, langsat, they are everywhere now.

These were few things I did during break. Let me show you some.

If you have never seen coffee bean before, here you go. This is fresh coffee bean. Is it? or coffee fruit? How do you call it?. Our grandpa planted one tree at the backyard. The fruits are ripen by now. It tastes sweet. I mean, you can just eat it like that and take out the seed inside. Dried it, then roast it, then blend it to get the coffee powder. 

I remember when there was no road to our village where we had to walk for about 3 to 4 hours to our village from the nearest small town. Coffee plants were everywhere. But now, it's rare. And we only have two trees at the backyard. 

And I made these for my nephews and nieces. And everyone had a taste of it. 

old time ice-cream. I wasn't sure how many times I did this. twice? Thrice? We used to make these when we were still kids. I made few flavors which were gula apong (mixed gula apong with coconut milk and warm water), F&N Cordial flavor grenadine (Sun Valley Grenadine cordial is just legend), air bandung (mixed Grenadine cordial and evaporated milk) and also carbonated soft drink Fruitade flavor by F&N too. I think F&N should send me gifts of all these products for Gawai this year. 

😄😄😄😄😄

You may want to check out other products produce by them here.

Click on this link: https://www.fn.com.my/brand/fn-fun-flavours/

And the last photos I have. I cooked ikan sultan masak lemak cili api. What do they call it in English? Searched for it. So I got something like sultan fish, mad bard and hoven's carp. 

So it's basically sultan fish cooked in coconut milk gravy with bird's eye chili. 

Ingredients

Sultan fish ( I used two, cut them into four pieces)

Coconut milk (used one small box or 200ml)

Turmeric powder (half tablespoon or depends on how yellowish you want the gravy to look like. But not too much. Half tablespoon is just enough)

Bird's eye chili (depend on how hot you want the gravy to be)

Lemongrass ( I used two)

Asam jawa @ tamarind (just one spoon to clean the fish and just a little bit to use for cooking the fish)

Salt and Ajinomoto 😋😋😋😋

Ways to cook

1. Clean the fish, take away all the stomach and everything. I told the people at the fish market to clean for me. If you take out the stomach in wrong way, the fish will turn bitter. Seriously bitter. And cut them into four pieces. 

2. Then I just mixed the fish with tamarind and soaked with water for 5 minutes. Just to get rid of the fishy smell. Then rinse off.

3. Grind or crush down the chili and lemongrass. I use mortar and pestle. 

4. Take out whatever you want to use cooking pot or just a kuali pun boleh. 

5. Pour in the 200ml coconut milk and 300ml warm water into the pot. The mixed well with the chili and lemongrass, turmeric powder and a little bit of tamarind. Put in two tea spoon of salt and one tea spoon of Ajinomoto. If you taste it less salt, you can put in later. Mix them well. 

6. After that, put in the fish into the same pot, mix well. Then put the pot on the fire. 

불타오르네? 

Bultaoreune?

Fireeeee fireeeee.. 

Then you can continue sing Fire by BTS while waiting for the fish to cook up. 

Your end product should look like this. Serve with warm or hot rice. 

Daebak!

Done! That's all for now. 

Thing(s) I did: Part 5- Steamed ikan sultan with tomyam flavor

Dramatic, isn't it... 😬😬😬😬😬
Am not a big fan of fish. I eat when I want to only. If not, I don't even want to touch it.
I cooked this dish two days ago. Mind you, this is not professional cooking. It just something that we have for lunch or dinner in an ordinary home. This is just ordinary food/cooking. I wanted to bake cake but couldn't find time.
The truth is am just being motionless during my leaves. And it still does not feel enough.
😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴
And I'll be back to work next Monday.

Now lets get back to our dish.
Ikan sultan stim tomyam.
Steamed ikan sultan with tomyam flavor.

That word, flavor, reminds me of Willy Wonka by Macklemore.

Recipe and method.

Ingredients:
1. Tomyam cubes (Dissolve in warm water. You can pour the mixture into the fish before start steaming. Or you can stir fry the mixture with the ingredients below, then pour everything onto the fish after 15 minutes of steaming the fish. I opted for the first method as I tried to cut off oil in food. I used the brand Knorr. You can use whatever brands you want)
2. Lemongrass (You will need two or three. I used two. One to be mixed with the fish, one to be boiled in the water for steaming)
3. Ginger (Slice thinly. The more, the better. It helps to get rid of the fishy smell. The same with lemongrass)
4. Red onion and garlic (slice thinly)

Refer to the photo below

Next stage.
Scattered all over the ingredients 2-4. Before i forget, mixed well a little bit salt with the fish. I soaked the fish for about 15 minutes with tamarind water. Then put the fish on top of the ingredients. Then mixed the rest of the ingredients with the fish. And next, pour the tomyam mixture onto the fish.

Refer to the photo below

Moving to the next stage.
I waited for the water to boil before I placed the fish tray inside the steamer. I put one lemongrass into the water so that the aroma absorb into the fish while steaming. Just crushed the lemongrass and let it boiled together with the water. Once the water boiled, place the fish tray into the steamer.

Last one.
I steamed the fish for about 30 minutes. Once the fish eyes changed color, consider it cooked. But then check again. But then again, steamed fish doesn't take long to cook.

Ok. That's all. That's a wrap for things I did. I don't think I cook starting next week since am back to work.
Life would be like go to work, come back home and normally foods are already prepare by my auntie.
Thank you, auntie, for taking care of us.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Watching MTV. Mic Drop is playing right now.
My favorite. Why? He may not be as handsome as the rest of the members but he certainly has an aura of an attractive personality.
And his smile. And his brain, his thoughts.
It's totally infectious.😇😇😇😇😇

Thing(s) I did: Part 4- Sawi pahit goreng udang

Today's lunch.
Sayur sawi pahit goreng udang.
I searched on Google the name of the vegetables. You see, am not very good in English. I lost the skill long time ago.
So the other name for sawi pahit is Oriental Mustard (Chinese Mustard, Gai Choy). Something like that.

Recipe and method. I'll just explain the ingredients. I think you can just see the method on the photos below.

Ingredients:
1. Prawns (take away the shell and also the head)
2. Ginger
3. Garlic
4. Chili (optional)
5. Oriental mustard
Prepare everything just like in the photo below.

Next. The method.
Put oil. Heat it. Then pour ingredient 2-4. Stir everything till you can smell the aroma. Then add the prawn. Then the oriental mustard. Done and serve.

Ok. That's all. Will post another one when am free.

Thing(s) I did: Part 3- Tauge goreng and ikan goreng

Next.
Tauge goreng @ stir fried bean sprouts with garlic.

Recipe and method.
Ingredients:
1. Bean sprouts
2. Garlic (crushed)

Method:
Stir fry everything in a hot oil. Mix well. Do not let the bean sprouts to overcook. You have to do it fast. Add salt to give it tastes. Or you can just add on oyster sauce.

Next.
This one was requested by my auntie. Ikan goreng. Fried mackerel with turmeric powder. Just a simple dish.
Cut the mackerel into two parts. Mix well with salt and turmeric powder. Then deep fried the mackerel.

Thing(s) I did: Part 2- Sayur labu lempah manis

Next one.
Sayur labu lempah manis.
I just hate translating everything into English. How to translate this kind of food?
Boiled pumpkin with shrimp paste. Something like that, I think.

Recipe and method.
Ingredients:
1. Pumpkin
2. Chili (depends on you. If you want it to be spicy, add more. If not, just use one enough)
3. Garlic and red onion
4. Lemongrass
5. Ikan pusuk/ Anchovies
6. Belacan/ shrimp paste

Stage 1.
Method:
Welcome the main actor for this recipe. Pumpkin. Peel off the skin and throw away the seeds. Cut into cubes. Not too small and not too big. I got this pumpkin from my kampung. My auntie planted this. Then put into the pot with water. Make sure the water level is at the same level with the pumpkin cubes. Set them aside.

Stage 2.
Method:
Ingredients 2-6, crush/grind everything. Do not use blender. If you don't have pestle and mortar, what to do... Crush/grind everything. Add into the pot and boil them together.

Stage 3.
Method:
Let them boiling. Add salt. You will get something like the photo below. The shrimp paste makes everything tastes good.

Thing(s) I did: Part 1- Ayam masak kicap

Ok. This was the only time where I can cook. Only during holiday.

Cooking. Not loving it but just knowing that I can cook, it's enough. So I had this on the first day of my leaves.

Ayam masak kicap. Chicken in soy sauce.

Recipe and method.

Stage 1.
Get all these ingredients.
Of course chicken is the main thing you should have. Cut them into pieces.
1. Dried chili (soaked into hot water)
2. Garlic and red onion
3. Ginger
4. Oyster sauce
5. Thick soy sauce
Method:
Crush/grind everything using mortar and pestle. Of course, it was optional. You can always blend everything using blender. Easier. Well, as a typical Malaysian, we always prefer the traditional way. Better, I guess. Crush/grind everything until it turns like the one in the small, how do you call that orange thing? Plate? Small plate. Whatever it is. You can refer to the photo below.

Stage 2.
Method:
Put oil in the kuali, like usual. Just like you cook your everyday food. wait till the oil heated, then pour all the grind mixing into the oil. Mix till you can smell the aroma of the mixing. Then put in the chicken cut. Stir everything, mix well. Whatever you call it. Then pour in water, not much. Just enough. Agak-agak. Put in a bit oyster sauce and thick soy sauce.
Here comes the part where you have to do it according to your own gut. Depending on your own taste, just do whatever you want to do. add salt if you need it. I didn't add mine.

Stage 3.
Method:
After mixing all the things you needed, let it simmered and reduced till the gravy thicken. Depends on you whether you want it to be thick or just leave it watery a bit. You will get the outcome just like in the photo below. I didn't get any photos of serving.

Comfort food: Ayam masak merah

Saturday night, my aunt was like, your uncle requested for ayam masak merah.
And I was like, really? I didn't hear anything.
And my auntie was like, he said it yesterday.
And me thought to myself, I must had lost in the middle of the conversation when we were in the car. And here, taaa-daaaaaa!!!
Owh, did I use many ANDs? Again? in this post? Just bear it.

Ok. First dish, ayam masak merah (sweet and spicy chicken). Ok, to be honest I just don't know other name for this. We just called it ayam masak merah. And the way of cooking, the ingredients would be varied from city to city, from state to state. This one I learnt from my auntie. But yesterday, I modified and substituted the ingredients (according to my general knowledge) a bit since certain ingredients were missing. Hehehe. When I say modified and substituted, I just did it according to whatever I feel like. My brain is truly functioned and dependable when it comes to cooking.
Trust me. 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

For this dish, you will need chicken.
Cut them into small pieces, not too small, not too big.
Agak-agak lerrr. Clean and wash them but not too long. Otherwise you wash off the sweetness of the chicken meat.
I mixed the chicken cuts with two tablespoon of turmeric powder (it helps to get rid of the chicken smell), one tablespoon of salt and half tablespoon of Ajinomoto. am sure you know what is Ajinomoto.
Mixed them well and let rest for about 15 minutes.
Then deep fried the chicken and leave it partially cook. Just like the photo below. Then set aside.

Move on to the next stage.

Preparing the ingredients. Here comes the part where I modified and substituted certain ingredients.
Look at the photo below. I'll make my best explaining the original ingredients, what to modify/substitute and what to do.

Mind you that this recipe will be varied from one place to another.
The original recipe I did before this, we actually can buy the paste for this dish. Go to the wet market and find someone who sell curry and spices. Tell them, I want a paste for ayam masak merah. And wala, you can just cook using the paste and just add few ingredients.

And the one I cooked yesterday, here are the ingredients you need:
1. Ginger (cut into small dices)
2. Lengkuas (I have to Google its name in English. it showed something like this Alpinia Galanga) We used the rhizome part. You must have this. It is a must ingredient. If you substitute this part, it doesn't taste good. Cut into dices.
3. Garlic and red onions (cut into dices)
4. Dried chili (the amount depends on how spicy you want the dish to be. Cut the chili and soaked into warm water to get rid of the spicy smell)
5. Lemongrass (just smashed it)

Ingredients number 1-4, blend them together. You will get something like in the blue container of the photo above. Ingredient number 5 just leave it. It will be used later on.

I know, that Sunquick. Why Sunquick? Another two ingredients would be chili sauce and tomato sauce. I was running out of tomato sauce. So I substituted the tomato sauce with Sunquick Orange. For this I just added three tablespoons of Sunquick. Owh, original recipe, we used evaporated milk to make the gravy tasty. But here Sunquick did the all the job. It replaced the tomato sauce and also the evaporated milk. And around 8-10 tablespoons of chili sauce. This one you have to measure yourself the thickness of the gravy and the taste. Agak-agak.
Aaaaa, for this dish, you don't have to use any salt or Ajinomoto. The flavor will come from the fried chicken and the sauces. One more thing, add two tablespoons of sugar.

Next stage: Get ready your kuali. Remember the cooking oil I used for frying the chicken? I used it to get the chicken flavor.
Then once the oil heated, pour all the blended ingredients. Once you can smell the aroma of the blended mixtures, you add the lemongrass.
Then add on the chili and Sunquick. Then add sugar.
Stir them well until you get the thickness of gravy that you want. For me, I didn't let it got too thick since my fried chicken were partially cooked. So I left it a bit watery. Then add on the fried chicken. Mix them well and left to cook and until the gravy turn thick.
Some people they add potato cubes. If you add potato cubes, make sure to deep fried the potato. It taste good that way rather than you add raw potato cubes. Potato cubes help to thicken the gravy too.

And there you are my ayam masak merah. Done! The good thing about replacing tomato sauce and evaporated milk with Sunquick was the aroma smells good. It had this zest smell there.

Ok. There you have it. I don't mind sharing the recipe. I believe the way you cook and the feeling you pour into your cooking will make the taste different. Same ingredients, same methods, same stages of cooking, still resulting in different tastes. It still depends on how you feel during the whole process.

Now the next dish. This was requested by my auntie.
You only need 4 things: Bean sprouts, tofu, crushed garlic and oyster sauce. Nahhh, you don't have to salt or Ajinomoto. Just oyster sauce will do the job. It will taste better if you add on/scatter (I couldn't find word for this) crush peanuts on top of the dish. I didn't do it since no peanuts could be found. Some people they add crushed dried prawns (we called it udang kering tumbuk ) and chili (if you want it to be spicy).

Fried the crushed garlic first, then add on the oyster sauce. Not too much. Just two tablespoons enough. Then tofu, stir well. Then add bean sprouts. You have to do it fast so that the bean sprouts not overcooked.

That were for lunch yesterday. Sunday.

Makan Makan

So, my cousin hosted makan-makan yesterday at home. Open house for her co-workers and also few friends of whoever at home yesterday.
(Gosh, I was working yesterday).

When we have makan-makan, of course we have foods. Here are the photos.

The Menus
1. BeeHoon Belacan or is it Belacan Beehoon? Whichever you like. Hahaha. (Do I have to translate this one?) If translated it's something like Rice vermicelli in shrimp paste gravy. Yup! You read that right. My favorite. Seriously. But only when my auntie cooks it. Other people, I don't eat. They are not expert like my auntie when preparing this dish. Seriously. 
And I would like to proclaim this one although am not too sure about it. BeeHoon Belacan can only be found here in Sarawak, especially in Kuching. This one am not sure. But so far, I can't find it at other parst of Malaysia. Dunno lerrrr. The ingredients and how to make? Heh, malas. I don't want to type or reveal it here. I would like to consider this recipe of my auntie is a SACRED and TOP-SECRET one. The tastiness and the deliciousness of the dish is lies on that one and only main ingredient. I know you can Google the recipe, but trust me. My auntie's recipe is the BEST IN THE WORLD.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💖💖💖💖💖

Nahhh, eat the photo only. Hahahaha

2. Soto Bandung. This one is a bit ironic. Hahaha. It's not exactly Soto Bandung like the one in Indonesia. This one has been modified by my cousin's wife. The original one, the chicken is fried, but my cousin's wife, she boiled the chicken. It actually good as it cuts off the oily part of the dish. The original recipe is passed on to her by her brother's wife who hails from Surabaya or Bandung, Indonesia. I can't remember. This Soto you can never find anywhere else. One of the best dishes we have in the family. Recipe? Nope. Email me if you want the recipe.

Photo photo photo

3. Kari Dhal Daging + Nasi Putih. How to translate haaaaaa?? Beef Curry with Dhal? Hahaha. And white fragrance rice. Marvelous! Superb! 

💃💃💃💃💃

  

Ok. Let's wrap up. None of the above are mine as I was working on that day. Saya pulang rumah terus makan saja. 

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Kek Marble Cheese @ Marble Cheese Cake

Got the recipe from my cousin too. Tried to make it marble, but didn't turn out well. Hahaha. The other cousin said, it was supposed to be like the one that I baked, but I thought mine was not marble enough. The spreading of the cheese was not equal to all sides. The most common way to bake this cake is to separate it into two parts: The base would be the chocolate, the top part would be the cheese. The previous cake didn't use any flours, but for this cake you have to. This is also a steamed cake.

Marble Cheese Cake (Use 10 x 10 baking tin/pan)

Ingredients
 
For the base:
560g butter (unsalted)
100g cocoa powder (I put a little extra of 20g, but 100g supposedly to be ok just nice)
500g fine sugar (I cut off a little bit 470g is ok. 500g is just fine.)
6 eggs (Regular size coz my cousin helped me to buy)
350g tepung Hong Kong or they called it Water Lily Flour (That was what the Google told me.)
A teaspoon of ovalette

Method of preparing:
1. Beat (using electronic mixer) butter and sugar together till it gets creamy. (not to fluffy). You have to agak-agak. As long as the butter and sugar mixed well and gets a little creamy, it's ok.

2. Then add on eggs one by one, Water Lily flour and cocoa powder. Mixed them well using electronic mixer too. Add ovalette too so that the base won't be dried.

3. Pour into the baking tin. Do not forget to grease the tin using butter.

As for me, I greased mine with butter and put the baking paper to avoid the mixture from sticking to the tin. Top the tin with aluminium foil. Steamed for 1hour and a half. Do not steamed till it get fully cook. Just enough that when you pour the cheese on top, the cheese will not sink down. Unless you want to try to create the marble like mine, I steamed the base for about an hour. But the problem was the cheese sinked more to the middle of the base because the base was not that cook enough to support the cheese.

For the top:
1kg of cream cheese (I used Anchor cream cheese. Do not 100% defrost the cheese. Let it be a little sticky when you beat it later on)
255g of fine sugar (If you don't want it to taste sweet, reduce the sugar. I reduced mine to 245g)
1 teaspoon of vanilla flavor
50g of corn flour
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk (Enough with 4 tablespoons. If you add more, the cheese will lose its taste)

Method of preparing:
1. Beat cream cheese and fine sugar till it gets creamy.

2. Add on eggs one by one, vanilla flavor, corn flour, and sweetened condensed milk, till everything is well mixed.

3. Remove the baking tin from the steamer, then you pour this cheese mixture on top of the cocoa base. Top off the the baking tin with aluminium foil. Put back into the steamer and steam for about three hours. Do not exceed the time when you steamed it. We don't want the cheese part (the top part) to overcooked as it will be easily cracked.

Marble Cheese Cake: The End Result

I told you, it didn't look marble. Huahuahuahua. The cheese mixture sinked more to the middle part as when I poured the mixture, the base was not cook enough to support the upper part.

Additional photo:

Can you spot the Marble Cheese Cake here? The one in this photo was made by my cousin. Most of Marble Cheese Cake here in Kuching looks like that. Easier to make and it looks presentable, rather than trying to create the marble look and turns out not so marble. Hehehe

The green cake is called Kek Lumut. Lumut means moss. Its called Kek Lumut because of the color looks like moss.

The one with red-cream-green color add on choc chips is Watermelon layered cake or known as Kek Lapis Tembikai. Seriously, it tastes just like watermelon.

The one with orange-cream color is Orange layered cake or known as Kek Lapis Oren. And, yup, it tastes like orange. Hehehehe

The one with yellowish-cream-choc color is India layered cake or glamorously known as Kek Lapis India. It used coconut grated, Cadbury chocs and many other ingredients. I can't remember.

P/s: Do you see my Holiday Inn cake there? 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙊🙊🙊🙊🙊🙊