Herbs Gardening and Chicken Otak-Otak

What's new?

Well nothing much... Work... Falling sick.... Feeling good... Falling sick again... Repeat... Though I've been around the island... Got "guests" coming in from all over the place...

Anyway... I developed this passion for herbs gardening. Behold!!! A herbs garden about 96 feet above the ground...

Some of the herbs that I have growing in my herbs garden... Pictured here (from left to right) Turmeric, Curry Leaf, Spring Onion, Potato, Birds Eye Chilli and "Daun Selom".

And to celebrate my herbs garden, and because I'm too lazy to go out and "tapau" something to eat, I raided my fridge and found a chicken breast that a bought a few days back..

Then with a pair of scissors, I snipped some lemongrass, basil, turmeric and birds eye chili and put together this surprisingly tasty dish! Otak-Otak Ayam (Chicken Otak-Otak)

This is a siamese dish... My mom usually make this with fish or fish roe or sometimes- a kind of small yet tasty and chewy mushroom... We call them Kulat Sisir or in Kedah slang that'll be Kulat Sisiaq (see-see-yuck) hahaha...

Here's something to try in the kitchen...

Chicken Otak-Otak (makes 4 small portions)

You will need-

1 Chicken Breast
2 Lemongrass
1 Red Chili
1-3 Birds Eye Chili
1" Turmeric
1" Shrimp Paste (belacan)

Thai Basil
Kaffir Leaf (Daun Limau Purut)
Daun Kaduk

1 Large egg

Banana Leaves (for wrapping- I used turmeric leaves... What to do? I'm a McGyver in the kitchen!)

The method-

1. Chop and pound chicken breast until fine.

2. Pound turmeric, lemongrass, shrimp paste, chili, birds eye chili and turmeric.

3. Mix chicken, pounded ingredients and stir in the egg.

4. Finely chop basil, kaffir leaf and daun kaduk.

5. Improvise a squarish or cones from banana leaf, put some basil at the bottom and spoon in the mixture.

6. Sprinkle finely cut ingredients.

7. Steam for 10 minutes.

The mixture (pre-spooning and steaming)

Fresh from the steamer-pot! This caused my house to smell like a siamese restaurant! I like!

In the process of enjoying Otak-Otak!

Life is good...

Aidil Fitri 1430

I know it's been a while (OK OK I admit! A VERY LONG WHILE) But better late than never... So pix of pre-raya, raya and post raya! Hehehe...

PIX
Raya Eve: About to do double DJ with DJ Nurul.

First Day of Raya: Did Double DJ with the Baroness aka DJ Gemini aka Helen
(real name: Halina)Third day Raya: Too lazy to put on baju melayu d... Back to normal attire to work!

Fifth day of Raya: Decided to balik kampung without a real plan! A week of makan, tido, merayau and discovering what's new in Sungai Petani!

One example: Pulut Kuning ngan Gulai Daging Mak Buat!!! Hehehe...

This used to be a padang over-grown with lalang where I used to hang out sambil kejar2 burung ciak uban! Near to my old house.

Since everyone came back for raya, we decided to call a photographer to snap our family potrait.

So one chair here...


One there...

Smile!


Eldest sister and her family...


Second sister and her family...


Me and my brother... I know I have his family photo somewhere...


My sister and her family...


Me and my eldest nephew...


Me and my third nephew...

Abes!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

J




Here's wishing everyone selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf zahir batin.

Frozen

Frozen
A collection of different versions of my favorite song... One of many... Hehehe... *mushy mushy weak around the knee area mode.


Corruption Inc.



Girls Under Glass


Jeff Scott Soto of Talisman


Mlczenie Owiec


Paulina Lenda


Stemlet


Thy Disease


Vocal Express


Danish Vocal A cappella Group


Pascal Obispo and Natasha St. Pier

And the original version by Madonna


You only see what your eyes want to see
How can life be what you want it to be
You're frozen
When your heart's not open

You're so consumed with how much you get
You waste your time with hate and regret
You're broken
When your heart's not open

Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me
Mmmmmm, you hold the key

Now there's no point in placing the blame
And you should know I suffer the same
If I lose you
My heart will be broken

Love is a bird, she needs to fly
Let all the hurt inside of you die
You're frozen
When your heart's not open

Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me
Mmmmmm, you hold the key

You only see what your eyes want to see
How can life be what you want it to be
You're frozen
When your heart's not open

Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me
Mmmmmm, you hold the key

Mmmmmm, if I could melt your heart
Mmmmmm, we'd never be apart
Mmmmmm, give yourself to me
Mmmmmm, you hold the key

If I could melt your heart

Caramel Custard at 3.30am

Happy 18th day of Ramadhan!

Yeah, 18 days already. Another 12 days to go. Or it could be 11 more days. I think it's another 11 more days to go... But I could be wrong.

Anyway, I just got a new kitten. Yes. My third kitten. No pix yet. She's lovely. My nephew and I "rescued " her from a stall in Kuah. She's lovely. Kinda looks like the Russian Blue I've been eyeing that would've cost me an arm and a leg.

Why am I still up at this time? Lemme rephrase that question. Why am I still up and blogging at this time? It's because I'm digesting. Hahaha...

I taught my nephew how to make a killer-super-delicious Caramel Custard!

Basically it's one of the few recipes I happened to remember. This is my moms' version.

The other 2 were given to me by my sisters, so 2 sisters, 2 recipes.

Luckily my other sister is not fond of cooking desserts, but she makes good Laksa and Nasi Lemak and Gulai Sardin with Potatoes *gulp saliva.

So here's a recipe for the Caramel Custard we just ate at 3.30am.

Yeap. We ate it warm because cannot tahan d... Hahaha...

Caramel Custard (12 inch baking tin/ 4 4-inch baking tins. Serves 8.)

Ingredients

6 Large Eggs
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk+ 1 can Water
1 capful Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Flour
Salt

*1 tbsp Sugar


The Method

1. Mix everything well and put aside.

2. Pour sugar into baking tin. Caramelize sugar.

3. Pour in egg+milk into baking tin.

4. Steam for 20 minutes or until cooked thoroughly (check by poking a knife into the custard- if the knife comes out clean, it's done).

5. Leave to cool and serve chilled with fruits of choice (peaches, tangerine, pineapple and the newly discovered- canned strawberries goes very well with custard).

Pix

Caramel Custard with Canned Strawberries at 3.30am- Why not?

While we're enjoying the sweetness of life, let's not forget about those who are less fortunate than us.

Shafie Mustaffa, father of 3 from Kampung Temonyong, Langkawi who is suffering from stage 2 liver cancer needs your help. His operations costs a huge sum of money and his monthly medical bill and travelling expenses from Langkawi to Alor Setar costs about RM700++.

Hari Raya Aidil Fitri is just around the corner and let us all lessen the burden of the needy.

You can help Abang Shafie by personally giving your aid, call him at 017 502 0569 or you can bank in your donation to Maybank 1520 7730 5025.

Done.

Sticky and Spicy...

Pulut Kuning Recipe (4-6 portions)

* 4 cups Glutinous rice
* 400 ml Thick Coconut Milk
* 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
* 1 tsp Black Peppercorn
* Salt to taste

The Method

1. Soak glutinous rice with turmeric powder and black peppercorn for at least 1-2 hours or overnight.

2. Clean and drain rice and steam until half-cooked.

3. In a container, mix rice with coconut milk and salt. Mix well.

4. Steam until done.

Tips: To get a good shine on rice, soak with tamarind slices.


Bahan-bahan ( 4-6 orang )

* 4 cawan beras pulut
* 400 ml santan
* 1 sudu teh kunyit serbuk
* 1 sudu teh lada hitam
* garam secukup rasa

Cara-cara

1. Rendam pulut bersama serbuk kunyit lebih kurang 1-2 jam atau sehingga pulut bertukar warna kuning

2. Cuci dan toskan pulut dan kukus hingga 1/2 masak

3. Setelah 1/2 masak keluarkan dari kukusan dan masukkan dlm bekas. Kemudian tuangkan santan yang dicampurkan secukup garam ke dalam pulut tadi dan
gaul hingga rata.

4. Masukkan semula ke dalam kukusan dan kukus hingga masak


Beef Curry

Ingredient A

2 cloves garlic
4 cloves onion
2 star-anise
1 inch cinnamon
2 inches Ginger

Cooking oil for frying

1 kg beef
1/2 kg yard-beans
5 small potatoes
1/2 packet curry powder
1 cup coconut milk


The Method

1. Fry ingredient A until fragrant. Add curry powder paste.
2. Add beef. When boiling, add in coconut milk.
3. Add in yard-long beans and potatoes. Cook until done.


Kari Daging Kacang Panjang

Bahan-Bahan:
Bahan tumis:

2 biji bawang putih (dihiris)
4 ulas bawang merah (dihiris)
2 kuntum bunga lawang
1 inci kulit kayu manis
2 inci halia (dihiris)
Minyak

1 daging lembu
½ kg kacang panjang
5 biji ubi kentang (dibelah)
½ peket rempah kari daging
Santan
Garam

Cara:

1. Tumis bahan tumisan. Masukkan rempah.

2. Bila garing masukkan tulang daging yang telah direbus.

3. Bila mendidih, masukkan santan.

4. Akhir sekali masukkan kacang panjang dan ubi kentang.

5. Tunggu sampai mendidih. Apabila masak, bolehlah diangkat.

Pix

Pulut Kuning & Kari Daging Kacang Panjang

The 10th Day Mark and 52nd Mark

Random Pix from yesterday...

Suffering from lack of sleep at the 8am rehearsal at Dataran Lang

The Stage Backdrop


Laungan Merdeka

Being a person who loves to snap photos of stuff, I was too busy to snap some photos... My nephew (left) and Aizat (right)



Coffee session at Starbucks Jetty Point while waiting for the trafic jam to dissipate.

Pose Session Before washing off the make-up and be ugly again...

Selamat Menyambut Ulangtahun Kemerdekaan Malaysia Ke 52!

Happy 52nd Independence Anniversary!