I'm Awake : Let's Make Pineapple Fried Rice

I have been craving for a good plate of Pineapple Fried Rice for so long...  The best one can be found in Sungai Petani  (my hometown)  at De Sabai Restaurant,  somewhere in Taman Zamrud Industrial Park,  although I am not sure if it's still in business or not...  Last time I was there,  I was 20-ish and very desirable...  Hahaha...

Personally,  a good plate of Pineapple Fried Rice should taste of dried shrimp,  sweet from the pineapple,  the sourness of the raisins and Sambal belacan.  The sausage should be crispy.

I am salivating!

I have been putting off making this because I usually forgot to buy the ingredients...  

Normally I would go shopping and buy canned pineapple and forgot to buy cashew and I would eat the canned pineapple and go out and buy the cashew and forgot that I ate the pineapple and am out of dried shrimp and my sausages gone bad in the fridge...

Today I bought the most expensive cashew nut ever.  The price was rm12.70 and I gave the cashier girl rm23.00 and she gave me 30 sen... And I didn't notice until I was back at home...  Bloody brilliant! 

Anyway...  I won't be poor with the rm10 and she will not be rich from the rm10...

So let's make Pineapple Fried Rice.

Ingredients :

1 cup cooked rice (cooled,  preferably overnight,  kitchen tip #1 : for good dark fried rice, mix rice with 1 tbsp thick black soya sauce)

1 garlic (chopped)
1 tbsp dried shrimp
2-3 tbsp cashew nut
1 sausage
1 fishcake (kitchen tip #2: instead of slicing the cakes as we normally do,  try slanting your knife at 45° angle and thinly slice them)
4 fish ball
1 serving of white cabbage
1 tbsp raisin
3 tbsp canned pineapple cubes with syrup

1 tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
Pepper

1 tbsp oil

Optional:
Chicken meat, squid,  shelled prawn, mushroom 

Method:

Heat oil.  Fry garlic,  dried shrimp &  cashew nut, remove.  Fry sausage,  fishcake,  fishball,  remove.

Add rice to wok.  Add fish sauce and oyster sauce.  Fry till done.  Add pineapple,  cook till pineapple turn transparent(ish).

Add cabbage and everything else.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with lettuce,  tomato,  cucumber and Sambal belacan.

Kitchen tip #3: to keep from everything other than rice turning brown (example- prawn,  Chicken meat,  fishball, fishcake)  add thick soya sauce to rice and fry everything else separately. 

Kitchen tip #4: soak dried raisins in cold water to rehydrate them. 

Kitchen tip #5: frying everything else and using the same oil to fry rice will incorporate the flavor into rice. 

Kitchen tip #6: adding garlic and dried shrimp to oil before turning on the heat will bring out stronger aroma. 

I'm Awake : Let's Make Rasmalai

Nothing beats cold, slightly sweet and slightly rose scented Rasmalai on a unnecessarily stressful day at work...

Rasmalai is traditional cottage cheese, served cold in rose scented, sweetened fresh milk flavored with cardamom and saffron and almond and sometimes crushed pistachios and cashew...  But I like to experiment in the kitchen and explore the Shortcuts...

Let's Make Rasmalai!

The balls (paneer)

1 cup full cream milk powder
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ghee/oil (to help the dough not sticking to your fingers)

The sweetened rose scented cardamom flavored almond milk

1 litre full cream / fresh milk
2 tbsp sugar
2 crushed cardamom
1 tbsp chopped almond
A dash of salt

Method:

Bring milk to boil on low heat. Add sugar,  cardamom, salt and stir. Add almond.

Mix paneer ingredients.  Shape into small fingertips sized balls. Oil hands while shaping dough.

Slowly drop balls into milk and cook till done.  Balls will increase in size.  Cook for 10 minutes and let cool.

Add rose water and chill.

I am Awake: Shortcuts in the Kitchen

I have been craving for Ayam Masak Merah and Nasi Minyak but...  A.  I am too lazy to cook the traditional way and B. My pantry doesn't have everything needed...

I remember when I was 17 in school,  my form 5 Catering teacher taught me a valuable lesson. 

We would come in the kitchen on Tuesdays and have our breakfast.  She will come early and cook for us a complete meal for all 30 odd students and after having our breakfast,  we will try and guess the recipe.

Some creative recipes cropped up.  Recipes like making tomyam by adding kaffir leaves,  lemongrass,  onion, birds eye chillies into chicken stock and adding meat (chicken or prawn or cuttlefish) and veggies (mushrooms,  baby corn,  carrot,  tomatoes  and cauliflower) and adding lemon juice before serving. 

I guess from this guesstimate method I've developed a good sense of how to taste and guess what ingredients needed for certain recipes.

I will come back and add the original recipes but for now...  I am too lazy!

Example: Ayam Masak Merah/Ros

Cheat Ingredients :

3 chicken wings (cleaned,  cut,  marinade with salt,  turmeric and paprika) fried till 3 quarter done.

Mix 5 tbsp bolognaise sauce,  1 garlic,  cardamom,  anise seed,  chili flakes and add chicken. 

Cook till chicken is done and oil separates. Add canned green peas.

Nasi Minyak

Cheat Ingredients :

2 cups rice (cleaned,  drained)

On the stove.  Fry 1 onion (thinly sliced) with 1 tbsp oil till caramelised,  add ginger, cinnamon and clove. 

Add rice.  Add 1 tbsp butter. Fry till translucent.

Add water and 1/2 chicken cube. 1 tbsp creamer powder. If desired- add chopped cashew nut and raisins.

Stir and cook in Rice cooker.

I'm Awake : Let's Make Spicy Seafood Pasta.

Cannot type.  Busy eating...  Hahaha...

Let's make Spicy Seafood Pasta!

Ingredients :

1 cup pasta (macaroni/penne/shell)
Salt

2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp butter
1 garlic
1 large tomato (cubed)
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp capers
1/2 tspn paprika
1/2 tspn chili flake
1/2 tspn parsley

2 shelled scallop
2 crabmeat stick

Method.

Boil pasta in salted water till Al dente (I prefer my pasta on the mushy side). Remove from water.

Melt butter add garlic,  tomato puree,  tomato cubes, capers,  paprika and chili flake. Cook till tomato is done. 

Add pasta, parsley, shredded scallop &  crabmeat.  Cook until done. Add parmesan cheese &  olive oil. Salt to taste. 

Let pasta soak in sauce and serve hot.

I'm Awake:Let's Make Konniyaku Jelly

You know the craving that you get on a lazy,  rainy weekend that makes you raid the fridge for something easy to make? Yes. 

That nagging feeling of hunger when all you have was a pack of bug-infested macaroni and you're craving for seafood pasta?  But that's a different story...

Anyway...  Let's talk about agar-agar or jelly... I've had a heated  argument with my good buddy about the difference between Agar-agar and jelly.  This was before I discovered the heavenly texture of konnyaku jelly... 

Let me get this straight...  For me,  my understanding of agar-agar is that it is derived from seaweed...  Usually in dried thread form and sometimes powdered form while jelly is usually gelatin made from animal connective tissue and cartilage...

OK?

Now let's move on...  Back to the wonderful texture of Konniyaku jelly.  It is firm and chewy... The powder is made from Konjac corm which is a weird plant from the Amorphophalus family.

Locally in Malaysia we have a few species with one locally known as Pokok Lekir being the most common.  This species looks like a papaya plant with mottled bark and can cause serious itchiness when touched. 

I have seen the fruiting stalks and from what I hear the flower spike is something like the famous corpse flower (they're from the same family lah)  but
I have never seen the flower blooming in the wild...

In certain parts of the world Konniyaku jelly is banned for the fear of choking hazard it posed while in Japan,  there are strict guideline on how big a serving of jelly can be sold to to public. 

Being firmer and chewier than normal gelatin derived jelly,  the Konniyaku jelly must be chewed prior to swallowing as it will not break simply by crushing it with your tongue!

In Japan Konniyaku jelly powder is also used in meat substitute preparation...  We have Konniyaku sashimi,  Konniyaku shrimp and squid (my favourite!) ,  Konniyaku mutton and Konniyaku everything!

OK...  I think my posting about my favourite jelly is long enough...

My preferred brand is Jele (that was the only brand available to me when I was in Langkawi) and this comes in different flavours.  I prefer to use the original one and will usually cook this in Delite Apple Juice (the cheapest apple juice available at rm2.60/liter).

Now in KL I only managed to get Nona brand and I only managed to get the lychee flavoured powder (lychee flavour is the laziest flavour ever!)  so I ended up adding 2 table spoons of lime extract.

There are many ways to prepare your jelly.  Basically you just need to pour the powder in a pot,  pour juice (water will work but you will have to add  flavour or buy pre flavoured powder instead) and stir the best you can before putting on the stove and bring to boil.

The mixture will start to develop fine bubbles that will cloud the surface.

The moment the mixture reached the boiling point,  turn off the heat and stir until nomore bubbles on the surface of the mixture. This usually takes about 3-4 minutes.  Pour into tray to set. You can add cut fruits (fresh and or canned)  to the tray.  I 'be tried adding gummy bears and gummy worms and those sour gummy straps to my tray...  Konniyaku jelly is that flexible.

Serve chilled. Just remember to cut into small serving size and to chew to avoid choking...  :) Enjoy.

I'm Awake:Let's Make Bergedel

This is my all time favourite! 

I remember my mom used to make this for special occasions because...  I can't remember why,  but she seldom make these,  so every time she made these...  They'd be gone fast.

This is one of the many ways to make bergedel. My favourite is by boiling the potatoes whole  with skin on until cooked and frying them till golden brown before mashing the potatoes with roasted ground spices...  That will leave your kitchen smell divine! Or you can peel the potatoes... 

You can vary the amount of potato to meat,  for example equal parts,  or 2 parts beef to 1 part potato,  or the other way around.  You can also use different meat like chopped shrimp or crab meat with sweet potato or chicken with  cauliflower  or mushroom with tofu and red chili and chives for a vegan version...

You can also vary the combination of spices used. It is basically meat with something else mixed with spices and fried.  It is so versatile!

So let's make potato beef Bergedel.

Ingredients :

6 small potatoes (washed,  boiled and fried till golden brown)

1 pack minced meat (about 300 grams)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped )

3 cloves shallots (finely chopped)

3 stalks Chinese celery (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon coriander seed (roasted and blend)

1 teaspoon cumin (roasted and blend)

1 teaspoon black pepper (roasted and blend)

1 small stick cinnamon (roasted and blend)

1/2 teaspoon korma powder

1 egg

Salt to taste.

Method :

Mash boiled and fried potatoes.  Add meat. Add chopped shallots and garlic. Add ground spices. Add finely chopped Chinese celery.

You can either finely mash the potatoes or roughly break them into small pieces.  The garlic can be finely chopped or roughly diced.

You can either add egg to the mixture or dip the mixture balls  into a bowl of beaten egg.

Mix everything well and shape into balls about 1 tablespoon each. 

Deep fry until golden brown and serve with chili sauce!

Pictured below : the potato meat mixture.  I keep forgetting to snap photo of the rolled and fried bergedel...  Hehehe... I have a batch of meat mixture in my freezer and will try and snap some photos later...