Sweet Red Chicken

As usual, my recipes are really for people like me who are living overseas and want a taste of home using whatever ingredients that are available here. Enjoy cooking!

Ingredients:
A. 4 pieces of chicken, with skin
Some turmeric powder
Salt to taste

B. 1 bombay onion
2-3 cloves garlic B

asic Malay aromatic spices:
1”-2” cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 star anise
2-3 cardamon seeds
1.5 tsp chilli powder or more if preferred
1.5 ” ginger, sliced into strips
3 - 4 tsp tomato puree
2 Tbs tomato ketchup
3-4 tbs fresh milk
½ Bombay onion sliced into strips
¼ cup frozen peas
Oil for frying
Pinch of sugar - optional

Method:
Mix ingredients A together and fry in hot oil until chicken is cooked and crispy on the outside – but not too hard to bite into. Set aside. Blend (in a blender) ingredients B. Fry the spices in hot oil for 1-2 minutes and pour in the blended mixture, ginger strips and chilli powder - cook for 8 - 10 minutes or until mixture turns into a darker colour. Stir occasionally. Add tomato puree, milk, tomato ketchup and stir. If mixture looks a little dry – add a few tbs oil used to fry the chicken. Add the fried chicken together with the onion strips. Stir. Add the peas once the onions are cooked/ 2-3 minutes later. Add salt and sugar. Leave for a while (5 mins), on very low heat before removing.

Yummy Banana Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup mashed ripe banana (3 bananas)
1/2 cup margarine
2 eggs
6 tablespoons milk
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
chocolate chips (recommended)

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside. In a separate bowl cream margarine and sugar, add eggs and mix until smooth. Stir in milk and mashed banana and mix well. Fold in flour mixture into the liquid ingredients until combined. Add chocolate chips (or you can just drizzle on top after you spoon the batter into the paper cups). Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds of the way full. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Strawberry White Chocolate Tiramisu

Ingredients:

12 ounces white chocolate
1 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
3-ounce package cream cheese or mascarpone, softened
36 ladyfingers
1 1/4 cups cooled espresso or strong coffee
2 pints fresh strawberries, washed, stems removed and sliced

Method:

Melt the chocolate with 1/4 cup of the whipping cream in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. Stir until smooth; cool to room temperature. In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese or mascarpone until fluffy. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate. Whip remaining 1 1/4 cups whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold (see note) the whipped cream into the cream cheese-chocolate mixture; set aside. Dip the ladyfingers in coffee (better to pour the coffee in a saucer) and line the sides of a 9-by-3-inch springform pan with ladyfinger halves, cut sides in. Arrange half the remaining ladyfingers on bottom of the pan. Cover with half the filling. Cover filling with half of the sliced strawberries. Repeat layers, ending with strawberries. Refrigerate at least four hours or overnight.

Note: To fold, place the heavier mixture over the light mixture. Starting at the back of the bowl, cut vertically through the mixtures and across the bottom of the bowl. This method gently combines the mixtures.

Chocolate Lovers' Favorite Cake

Original recipe yield: 1 - 10 inch Bundt cake.
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Ready In: 2 Hours

INGREDIENTS:
1 (510g) package devil's food cake mix
1 (110g) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
1 cup melted butter
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in sour cream, melted butter, eggs and almond extract. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Blend in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Mayo Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken pieces with skin – I normally use 4 pieces of chicken thighs but I’ve tried using 1 whole chicken as well and it works great.
Turmeric powder
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Curry powder
Mayonnaise

Method:
Rub the chicken all over with the turmeric powder, salt and curry powder. Arrange the chicken pieces in your baking tray or ovenware. Cover the chicken with some mayonnaise – just all around the surfaces, don’t bother to put any on the bottom of the chicken pieces because once the chicken is in the oven and coking, the melted mayo will cover those parts. Leave to marinate for 1 hour. Heat oven at 200 degrees – once oven is ready, cook chicken for 35 minutes. If you’re cooking 1 whole chicken, cook according to weight, 20-25 mins for each 500g plus an extra 20 mins for 1 chicken. You don’t need to cover the chicken with foil if you’re just cooking the pieces. But if you’re cooking 1 whole chicken, it’s better to cover first and only take off the foil for the last 20 mins to make the skin crispy. Lastly, sprinkle some pepper on the chicken while it’s still hot. Try it!

Spaghetti Meatballs

For meatballs:

250g minced meat
1 egg
1 slice of bread, shredded into small pieces (just by using your fingers)
salt to taste
garlic salt
1 tspn dried parsley
a sprinkle of black pepper
¼ tsp cumin seed, pounded (jintan putih)
A large jar of your favourite spaghetti sauce. (I use a 750g jar)
½ bombay onion
Salt to taste

Mix all meatball ingredients well and leave for a while in the fridge so that it will be easier for you to shape them into small size balls. Heat up your pot and add some olive oil to fry your onions for a bit before adding the sauce. Once it reaches boiling point, reduce the heat and let it simmer while you prepare the meatballs. In order to shape the meat into balls, take a handful of the meat mixture in your hand and squeeze so that the meat comes out in between your thumb and forefinger. Use a teaspoon to scoop and shape the meat mixture into small sized meatballs and drop them into a bowl (I normally make them just a little bigger than the fish balls back home). Once they are all ready, drop them slowly into the pot and increase heat for a while, slowly stirring initially so that the balls will not break or crumble. Again, reduce the heat once the sauce has reached boiling point and simmer for a while (25 to 30 minutes, I think), stirring once in a while. Add salt to taste.

Tip: Don’t forget to add some olive oil in your boiling water when cooking your spaghetti. Once cooked in the time as instructed on packet, drain and run cold water through it for a few seconds before melting a few dollops of butter on the still hot and steaming spaghetti. I just think it taste better this way. Try it!

p/s: read comments on this recipe for more tips!

Classic Tiramisu

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1 tub mascarpone cheese (around 1 cup)
1 pot whipping cream (10floz/ 280ml)
3 tbls sugar
1 packet sponge fingers
coffee for dipping
cocoa for dusting
chocolate curls for decoration (optional)

Method:
1. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the top of a ‘double boiler’ i.e. your yolks in a glass/metal bowl, resting on a pot/saucepan of boiling water. Reduce heat to low, and cook for about 6-8 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and whip yolks until thick and lemon coloured.

2. Add cheese to whipped yolks. Beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into yolk mixture and set aside.

3. Pour coffee onto a saucer, dip fingers in coffee one by one until coffee is absorbed into part of each finger and line the bottom and sides of a large glass bowl. Spoon half of the cream filling over the sponge fingers. Repeat process; dip sponge fingers, line and spoon filling.

4. Dust top with cocoa and chocolate curls. Refrigerate several hours or overnight. For the chocolate curls, use a vegetable peeler and run it down the edge of the chocolate bar whilst holding the chocolate bar over the tiramisu.

p/s: I use 2 oval shaped pyrex bowls for this recipe. Fits perfectly.

Rendang Perantau

Ingredients:
500gm beef (not lean, cut into small pieces 4-5cm)
1 can of coconut milk
3 cms galangal (pounded just a bit)
2 sticks of lemon grass (pounded just a bit)
2-3 teaspoons of turmeric powder
1 slice of dried assam slices
2 tsps of chilli powder
salt to taste
kerisik – dessicated coconut (choose a type that does not look too dry) - about 1 tbls, browned without oil and pounded to a rough paste

to be blended:
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
3 cms ginger

Method:
Put everything except the asam slices and kerisik in a wok or a pot. Salt can be added later too. No oil needed. Make sure the mixture of ingredients cover the beef very generously. Increase heat to boil and then reduce heat and simmer until coconut milk is very thick. Don’t forget to stir once in a while to avoid the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the wok/ pot. Then add the asam keping and stir a little bit more until the rendang is even thicker and any flowing liquid is nearly dried up. Then add the kerisik and stir some more. Add salt to taste. Rendang should be ready when its gravy is very thick and not flowing anymore. Eat with rice or nasi himpit.

Nasi Himpit

Rice cooked traditionally in a large pot with lots of water and then pressed down hard in a flat pan and left to cool. Once cooled, they will be cut into cubes. Away from Malaysia, what you need is just the rice that they sell in supermarkets that are sold in small boxes. Inside the boxes, cleaned rice is packed in small packets (that have small holes on them) and can be straightaway chucked into boiling water. Once cooked according to the instructions on the box, the westerners will tear up the plastic and pour the cooked rice into a plate. That’s how the westerners seem to like their rice – dry and not starchy. This product can be easily found in any supermarkets in England. In order to make nasi himpit though, this product is wonderful. What you need to do is just chuck 2-3 of these packets in a large pot of boiling water and let it cook for at least 2 hours. Make sure the packets are immersed in the boiling water and top up on the hot water if you need to. Make sure the nasi himpit is cooked evenly by turning over the packets once in a while. The nasi himpit is ready to be drained and cooled on a rack or a towel when the plastic is filled and nearly bursting (but not!) with the over cooked rice. Once cooled (normally for a few hours in room temperature or a shorter period in the fridge), the rice packets will be hard. Cut the packets into 2 before removing the plastic and cut further into cubes to be served with the rendang.

The Perfect Chicken Rice

Ingredients

Good long grain rice - 4 cups (this will require 1150ml chicken soup for the perfect water level, but must add a little bit more than that for a moist chicken rice - do not simply pour extra liquid into the rice, use the chart inside the pot to gauge how much you need!)
1 chicken (cut into 8 pieces)
Chicken stock cubes - (the actual recipe says 2 cubes but I just use half a cube - unfortunately without the cube, it will not taste like the chicken rice at the shops in Malaysia at all(!) so you should at least put a little bit in.)
Cooking oil - just a little bit for the soup, a lot to fry the chicken later on
Water - need to be more than 1150ml to accommodate the extra liquid needed and for the side dish soup, if required.
Salt to taste

To be pounded/blended together in the blender with a little bit of water:

Ginger - size about as big as your thumb :-). make sure it's young ginger i.e. when you cut it there should not be a rough texture in the centre of the ginger, it should be smooth and easy to cut through. Be generous with the ginger.
1 Large onion
3 Cloves garlic

Marinade:

3 tbls honey
4 tbls oyster sauce
3 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls sesame oil
1 tbls fennel seed,
pounded (jintan manis)

Method:

Heat up a little oil in a pot. Add the blended mixture and stir fry until fragrant. Add the chicken and the stock cubes. Add water. Increase heat to boil and then reduce heat and leave for a while to get the good chicken soup taste. Add salt to taste. Remove the chicken pieces and drain. Marinate chicken with the marinade above for at least 1 hour and fry in medium heat until crispy. If fire is too hot, the chicken will burn very quickly due to the honey. Heat up what's left of the marinade and pour onto fried chicken. Really yummy! Make sure you don't over-fry your chicken so that it won't turn hard. Don't need to fry for long as the chicken is already cooked inside!Use the prepared soup to cook the rice. Rice must be washed first and drained. While washing, you should measure the amount required for the perfect water level (using your fingers) and drain that amount into a measuring cup so that you'll know exactly how much water is needed. Pour the cleaned rice into the rice cooker pot. Add the soup and the extra bit more to make it moist (Again, for an estimate, just look at the chart inside the pot and increase the soup level by '1 cup' as stated on the chart). Stir the rice and soup and taste it. The mixture must taste a LITTLE on the 'too salty' side or else the rice will be bland. Add a bit more salt if necessary(!) I also love to add 3-4 more slices of ginger in the mixture to make it more fragrant. Use the rest of the soup as a side dish.

Chilli Dip

As usual, Malaysians always need something hot to spice up their food. For the chicken rice, a chilli sauce is prepared on the side to pour on the rice or on the chicken.For this dip/sauce: blend some fresh red chillies (4-5) and some garlic (2-3 cloves) with a little bit of the chicken soup. Squeeze some fresh lime into it or add some vinegar to balance the taste. Add some sugar to balance the hot and sour tastes.

This chicken rice is good. It doesn't use any food enhancers and yet it still tastes very nice. The chicken is sweet and succulent and the dip is pleasant. Hope you'll try it and also enjoy the result as I have. If you're used to cooking plain rice, just forget the confusing explanation on how to cook rice above and cook your rice as u normally do. But remember, there must be a little bit more liquid than usual for any rice dish that has onions etc in it for the rice to be nice and moist.

Urap Tomato

Now, this vege side dish is good and to me, the perfect accompaniment to chicken rice. Well, to me, at least. Try it! It's simple and no cooking is required. Mix the ingredients below and leave for a while in the fridge for it to cool.

3 tomatoes
1 large onion
3 green fresh chillies(slice all the above into very thin slices)
2 tbls pounded dried shrimp
2 lime
1-2 tbls sugar