5. Fried Spaghetti (Malay version)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pack spaghetti
½ cup minced beef
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tin tomato purée (medium size)
2 tablespoon chilli paste
6-8 large meatballs (fried until half cooked)
2 tomatoes
Parsley to garnish
4 tablespoon vegetable oil (preferably olive oil)
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1. In a large bot, boil 2 litres of water. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. When the water reaches boiling point, put in the spaghetti
2. When the spaghetti is al dénté (cooked but firm), drain the water and put aside
   In a pan, heat 3 tablespoon of oil and fry the minced beef until it is half cooked.Meanwhile, dice the onion and garlic
3. Put in the diced onion, garlic and tomato purée. Stir well until it fragrants
4. Add the chilli paste and black pepper
5. Dice the tomatoes and add them into the pan
6. Lastly, add in the meatballs and stir well until the meatballs are cooked
7. Pour the sauce onto the spaghetti. Arrange the meatballs around the plate and garnish with parsley. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bon Appétit!

Menu for Thursday...

The picture says it all :-)

4. Ayam Masak Sambal

Hello ppl! Below is a simple ayam masak sambal recipe which I am going to cook for today's Iftar. Today hubby and I are going to my parents' house for Iftar so I'm bringing the dish as well. Hopefully it won't turn out to be so hot! - dad likes any dish to be mildly hot. (Serves 4)

Ingredients A:
1 medium size chicken (cut into 12 parts and cleaned)
2 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients B:
3 tablespoon home-made chilli paste (boil dried chillies and blend it)
2 onions
5 cloves garlic
1 small stalk of curry leaves
2 pieces of dried tamarind
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoon oil

Method:

1. Combine Ingredients A in a bowl. Make sure all chicken parts are well coated with turmeric powder and salt. Put aside to rest
2. Chop the onions and garlic and blend it
3. In a wok, heat the oil and sweat the onions, garlics and chilli paste until fragrant. At this point when the oil becomes reddish, put in the curry leaves and dried tamarind. Stir well
4. Pour the water slowly and let it simmer for a while until the gravy thickens a bit
5. Add sugar and salt to taste
6. Finally, put in the chicken and give it a good stir

Serve it hot with rice, bread or even French loaf! Enjoy!

What to Cook This Weekend?

Today hubby is coming to KL but I plan to cook tomorrow. He's taking me to Ramadhan buffet at Marché tonight so I'm preparing my tummy to feast on their scrumptious spread. Anyways, am thinking of cooking Sambal Ayam tomorrow as the main meal. Last week hubby revealed that he likes chicken over other meat. I was quite surprised coz last year I was given the impression that he dislikes eating chicken. Will work on more chicken dishes then. As usual, the recipe will come tomorrow :)

3. Sweet, Sour & Spicy White Promfet

Serves 2

Ingredients A
1 large white promfet
3 tablespoon cornflour
1 cup of oil (for frying the fish)

Ingredients B
1 onion
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2 tablespoon oil

Ingredients C
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 tablespoon chilli sauce
3 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients D
1 tomato
1 stalk of spring onion
2 red chillies
2 green chillies
Parsley

Method:

1. Coat the fish with cornflour and fry it under medium-high heat. When it browns, drain the oil and put it on a flat plate
2. Slice Ingredients B thinly. Pour 2 tablespoon of oil in a wok and saute them until they brown
3. Put in Ingredients C bit by bit and stir well until fragrant
4. Dice the tomato, thinly slice the chillies and chop the spring onion (about 4 cm length). Combine them into the wok and give it a final stir
5. Pour onto the fried promfet. Garnish with parsley

Mission Accomplished!

Reached my husband's house (our house actually, don't know why I'm still not used of saying it) at about 7pm yesterday. It was tad late. So I decided to cut down one menu - Fried Egg drenched with Sweet Chilli Gravy. The fish, chicken and broccoli was perfectly cooked at 830. Hubby arrived 9pm. :):) We dined in front of the TV While watching 2 movies that he just finished downloaded. They were so bland (despite one of those which got good rating in RT) we slept at the couch :P Will update later on the recipes. Gotta go for a seminar now. Toodles!

Yippe!

I ALWAYS look forward for Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays every week. That's when hubby comes home to me hehe :) So I always make an appoint to cook at least one proper meal during his stay in KL. I always believe in the proverb, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach". Moreover, it is sunat that a wife prepares for her husband's meal though I always think it is mandatory.

This time I must make sure everything's cooked by 830pm. Must make sure everything's cooked by 830pm. Must make sure everything's cooked by 830pm. Or I'm gonna hate myself for letting him wait for the meal after the long 3-hour drive from Kerteh, like I did last time :( Luckily he's not the kinda guy who grumbles nor complain for having to wait for lunch/dinner times. Being a sweetheart as he's always been, he has never failed to assist me in the kitchen. Be it slicing the onions (which ocassionally makes him sneeze, like, forever - sorry syg!), stir the aromatics while i prepare the chicken, lay out the table, wash the dishes - you name it - he does it all! Okok back to the subject matter. I plan to cook two new dishes this week: Sweet, sour & spicy white promfet (equivalent to Bawal Putih Tiga Rasa) and Fried Egg drenched in Sweet Chilli Gravy. The side dish this time will be Ayam Masak Kuning (my first recipe in the blog) and Buttered Broccolli (taught by my MIL, one of hubby's fav). Just got the recipe of the former from my colleague, gotta scout for the other one later... or maybe tomorrow... Well, will post both recipes on Friday nevertheless, insyaAllah. Gotta go now to OU and get my new *MICROWAVE*, a wedding gift from my former department. Yay!

Till then, take care. And oh, selamat berpuasa to all Muslims!
21 more days to go!

2. Thick Chicken Curry

Bless my mom who just called fifteen minutes ago. After she finished complaining about not being able to use my dad's prepaid credit (coz it's time for him to topup again to make calls/sms), I took the opportunity to ask her how to cook chicken curry. Now this is not the conventional coconut-milk-induced chicken curry. It's a recipe with thick gravy that doesn't require any coconut milk, tomato paste, milk or the like - making it a fat-free recipe! (yea rite :p) Anywhooo...the recipe! (Serves 4)

Ingredients A
1 medium size chicken (cut into 12 parts and cleaned)
2 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients B
4 red shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger

2 cloves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom
1/2 teaspoon tamarind paste

1 big onion
2 stalks green chilli
1 small packet of curry powder (i prefer Baba's over other brands)

1 cup of oil (for frying the chicken)
2 tablespoon of oil (for cooking the curry)
1 cup water

Method:

1. Put Ingredients A into a bowl and make sure all chicken are well coated with turmeric powder and salt. Put aside
2. Blend Ingredients B until they reach fine consistency. Put aside
3. Dilute the curry powder with half a cup of water. Stir well
4. Pour 1 cup of oil into a hot wok. Fry the chicken until it's 3/4 cooked. Set the chicken to cool and press it lightly using kitchen paper to remove excess oil
5. In a pan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil and sweat Ingredients B until it browns
6. Put in the curry paste and stir well. Add the cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick and cardamom
7. Pour the remaining water into the pan. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes
8. Half the onion and slice it thinly. Also thinly slice the green chillies
9. In a separate small bowl, put 2 tablespoon of water into the tamarind paste. Stir it well and pour it into the pan
10. Put in the chicken, onions and chillies. Stir well and cook for another 15 minutes
11. Serve with hot rice, and, if you love more heat, "sambal belachan" will be the perfect companion! ;)