Nasi Lemak Sambal Sotong

Try Google nasi lemak and you will be amazed to read that it is proclaimed as national dish..haha! Nasi lemak is rice cooked with coconut milk, eaten with slices of boiled egg (telur rebus), fried ikan bilis, cucumber, fried peanuts (kacang goreng) and sambal. Of course there are many version of lauk-pauk to be eaten with the rice.

My personal preference would be sambal sotong kering (dried cuttlefish). Due to the high price of the sotong kering itself, it is quite hard to find nasi lemak stall that has sambal sotong kering as part of their choice of lauk. Not to mention the hours you have to soak the dried cuttlefish (which sometimes prove to be futile since the sotong is still liat like hell!)

For those looking for sambal sotong kering recipe, you can check out this link - Sambal Sotong Kering. Since I never bother to check out my own measurement when I am cooking, I hope Jo Scorpian’s recipe will help you..heh!

Posted by Cinta on June 19th, 2009 under Home Cooking | Comment now »

Fish Curry - Kari Ikan

There are many versions of curry, some cooked with coconut milk, some with just the tamarind juice and the curry powder. In certain states in Peninsular Malaysia it is called gulai rather than kari, but for certain people in East Coast of Malaysia, gulai is another dish cooked differently - something like gulai kawah, or gulai ikan tongkol. For “negori” people, gulai is more like masak lemak kuning with cili padi.

What I’m sharing here is my version of fish curry, cooked without coconut milk. Some says it is the Indian style version of cooking curry..heh! I used ikan kembung (Indian mackerel). Of course you can use all kind of fish as you like - bawal, tenggiri, jenahak, ikan merah. Oh, I used serbuk kari Babas (Babas fish curry powder) rather than Adabi.

The leftover of the curry can be eaten with bread or some instant roti canai for supper..heh!

Posted by Cinta on June 16th, 2009 under Home Cooking | Comment now »

Lala Masak Lemak Cili Api

I think this style of cooking for lala (clams) is very popular among Malays. Most of the Malay food restaurants that have nasi campur will serve this for lunch - masak lemak cili api lala. I tried cooking this once and since Hubby was never fond of seafood, I thought next time when I feel like eating one I might as well buy the ready-cooked rather than waste my time pounding all the spices..heh!

Lala is also good when stir fried with sambal, or a simpler version with crushed lemongrass and cili padi. As with any other seafood, the rules to cook them is discard the opened clams before you cook, and discard the unopened cooked clams.

Posted by Cinta on June 13th, 2009 under Home Cooking | Comment now »

Sambal Petai Udang

I love petai (Parkia Speciosa) or stink beans! I think I’ve made a post earlier but it was about having petai rebus as ulam with sambal belacan.

This time I managed to blog about my home cooked sambal petai with udang. The other option for sambal petai is to use ikan bilis (anchovies) instead of shrimp. But since I rather lazy to “kopek” the bilis, udang is a better choice..heh!

For me, the best way to enjoy sambal petai is having a plate full of hot rice, put some kicap (soy sauce) on top of the rice and eat it with some fried ikan masin to complement the spicy, stinky petai gravy..hehe!

Posted by Cinta on June 10th, 2009 under Home Cooking | Comment now »

Masak Lemak Kobis

I’m not sure what others call this dish, but I called it masak lemak putih..haha..to differentiate it with masak lemak kuning or masak lemak cili api (the yellow color comes from the pounded fresh turmeric thus the name..heh!)

You can switch the cabbage used in this kind of masak lemak with beansprouts (tauge). Some people put in dried anchovies, some put in egg, small shrimp or tofu as part of protein in this masak lemak. The trick to a successful masak lemak dish is to make sure that the coconut milk (santan) never “pecah minyak”. So make sure you use slow flame and stir the dish until it boils and quickly remove it from the stove once it has boiled.

This masak lemak kobis dish is great with fried fish..nyam nyam!

Posted by Cinta on June 7th, 2009 under Home Cooking | Comment now »

Annual Dinner 2008 - Hotel Maya, KL

This entry is a year overdue, but hey! who has time all day to just blog and blog..heh!

Hubby’s company annual dinner was held last year in Hotel Maya, KL. It’s a boutique hotel, situated quite near to KLCC and since the company has bigger budget last year (compared to this year), even the array of food served that time was great.

All of the guests got one goodie bag each and program book. The theme was movie night so you can expect to see people in Jedi costume, Star Wars, Zorro and many funny, funny looking characters..hehe!

Unfortunately I only managed to snap the picture of their desserts since I was busy recording Hubby singing on the stage..haha! But the selection of food (from what I can retrieve from my diminishing memories) was international. I remembered eating Japanese, Chinese and Western style of dishes.

We got the front table because it would be easier for those bunch of entertainers to get on stage, hence making it harder for me to get food from the buffet table at the back.

The table in the middle was reserved for managers and VP..heh..(who would want to dine with the bosses during annual dinner, yikes!)

I leave you readers with this great flower arrangement in my effort to make do with lack of food pictures for this entry. Hopefully next time I will be able to take more hotel food pictures.

Posted by Cinta on June 5th, 2009 under Events | Comment now »

Ayam Goreng Berempah

My in law family call this dish ayam bumbu - bumbu means rempah in Indonesian. I call it ayam goreng berempah since it has all kind of spices marinated and fried together.

It is very simple to make. You just have to slice and pound or blend all the spices together - serai (lemongrass stalks), lengkuas (galangal), halia (ginger), kunyit (turmeric), biji ketumbar (coriander seed), buah keras (candlenut), lada hitam (black pepper) and if you like it spicy, put in cili padi as well. Make sure you marinate the chicken with salt as well ( I usually add in a little bit of sugar to balance all the spices)

I prefer to keep it marinated overnight so that by the time I want to fry the chicken pieces, the spices blend well into the flesh..heh! Oh, if you like the crunchy taste of candlenut when you eat your ayam bumbu, don’t blend them too smooth, or perhaps you can cut the candlenut into bigger chunks and fry them together with the chicken.

It’s great to have hot with nasi ayam or nasi lemak kukus!

Posted by Cinta on June 2nd, 2009 under How-To | Comment now »

Are You Covered?

With the recent outbreak of many major illness and disease, (be it food or not food related) I can’t help but to wonder whether the existing medical insurance coverage that I bought and my Hubby’s employer has will be enough if anything were to happen to me (touchwood!)

Perhaps I should look for supplemental health insurance in case the amount covered is not enough. These kind of supplemental insurance policies usually will cover the expenses that main insurance policies do not cover, such as loss of income and living expenses.

Of course when determining what kind of health insurance policy one should get, the main concern will be how much the medical insurance cost you have to bear every month or on yearly basis. Those who smoke and overweight tend to be charged more. The rationale is people who are overweight tend to have more health problems which make them a greater risk.

So, change your life style, eat healthily, quit smoking and lose that extra weight..heh!

Posted by Cinta on May 27th, 2009 under General | Comment now »

Nasi Dagang Terengganu

The only thing that makes me like travelling (despite the long journey and tired body) is the opportunity to try the authentic food of the place I traveled to. For example, if you go to Terengganu, never miss the chance to try Nasi Dagang.

It’s true that you can find nasi dagang even here in KL, but the taste won’t be the same. Even the presentation of the food is different. Check out the pictures posted here.

The one sold in Terengganu could be found wrapped nicely in kelonsong shape of banana leaf. The pieces of ikan aya or ikan tongkol will be inside the rice. I read the recipe on the Internet and it says that the rice is steamed rather than cooked normally in rice cooker (enough reason for me NOT to cook my own nasi dagang..heh)

I was told that in Terengganu, they usually have this dish for breakfast. The above picture shows the close up of gulai nasi dagang. It looks like curry but the dish has different style of cooking and use entirely different spice. The famous rempah is called rempah cap bunga ros. For extra kick, put in belimbing buluh and cili padi. Hubby told me that I should squeeze both belimbing buluh and cili padi with the gravy and eat with my rice…huhu!

That’s the amount of rice in one kelonsong. I’m sure for those with big appetite you will have no problem to finish 2-3 packs..heh! Oh, you can even eat the dish with acar timun (cucumber pickle/salad) or gulai daging or ayam (chicken or beef curry Terengganu style).

Posted by Cinta on May 21st, 2009 under Travel & Living | Comment now »

Gifts For Cooking Mom?

This year’s Mother’s Day will fall on 10th May 2009. So for those who are thinking to appreciate any woman in their life this Mother’s day, have a look at ShopWiki.com. It is an online shopping sites that crawl like Google to feed your curiosity for best bargain.

If you know anyone with the interest for memorabilia and collectibles, check out the pages there. I know some moms and women who love collecting decorative plates. This could be one of the perfect gift to give them.

Or maybe you want to help that sister of yours adding in her collection of collectible spoons, take a look and choose the one you know will make her squeal in delight..heh!

Posted by Cinta on May 5th, 2009 under General | Comment now »

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