Poached Eggs

Honey bunny, sweetie pie, my boo, my beau, pumpkin, baby, darling, sayang, abe… these are common nicknames for the significant half in our life.  Sometimes it’s a shortening of a first name, a childhood name, or something that only you two knows why… this can gives you a unique feeling of love and being loved. Here in Malaysia… more often than not, I noticed that the wife will call the husband the same name that the kids call their dad and vice versa. You can hear almost everyone called their significant half like daddy, pa, ummi, ma. In my opinion, this is just not romantic. I did few times asked them why do they called their husband or wife like that and most people say …’senang or dah terbiasa.. or dah tua ni tak payah nak romantik sgt..’ well.. I beg to differ. I totally think that you need to try to maintain the special feeling between both of you walaupun dah tua. The older you guys get, the more reason to be romantic… what do you think? 2 weeks ago.. I met this couple.. a reasonably young couple and they called each other ‘suami’ and ‘isteri’.. my significant half and I were quite amazed by it. It is quite unique.. some of their conversation went like this ‘ herbs apa yang isteri letak baru ni yang suami suka sangat tu?’ ‘isteri letak tuala muka dalam beg suami pagi tadi’ hehehe… terhibur I dengar conversation dia org ni. Funny and somewhat romantic, don’t you think? Well.. whatever lah, as long as you guys happy. Assalamualaikum and salam jummat everyone.

Okay.. today I wanted to share a method of making poached egg. I love poached egg in egg benedict.. one of my favourite breakfast dish that I usually ordered masa kat middle east, kat sini susah la nak cari and most of the time the price is ridiculously expensive. So.. no other way to enjoy this type of egg except do it your self.

For me, poached eggs are a delicious, easy, healthy breakfast recipe. They are just beautiful…the whites are just firm enough on the outside to contain an oozy, golden yolk in a round little egg package. The trick to make this egg is to use the freshest egg in your kitchen. This blog, gives you all the good tips when making the poached egg from the height of the water in the pot to the how to crack the egg. Do read the blog if you have time. Next entry maybe I will do egg Benedict recipe. Say tuned.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large egg
• 1-2 tbsp vinegar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, crack an egg into a small fine mesh sieve over a bowl. Swirl the egg in the sieve until all the liquidy egg whites have been removed. Then, place the egg in a ramekin.
3. Stir the vinegar into the water and create a vortex. Add the egg to the middle of the vortex and cook the egg for 3 minutes.
4. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and dab it on a paper towel to remove any excess water. Serve immediately.
5. Alternatively, if making the poached eggs for meal prep or ahead of time, transfer the cooked poached eggs to an ice water bath and refrigerate for a couple of days. When ready to serve, add boiling water to a bowl, then add the cold poached egg and submerge for 20-30 seconds or until warmed through. Remove the poached egg with a slotted spoon, dab dry and serve immediately.

Cek Mek Molek

My homemade cek mek molek

Kids are on winter break, weather is superb and the other half is working… totally no fun hehehe. Looking forward to tomorrow tho.. taking a short trip to Musandam since it’s gonna be a 3 day weekend. My other half and his bike buddies gonna ride and I am gonna drive with the kids. Hopefully I can stay awake for this 5 hours drive. Being told that the scenery from Muscat to Musandam is breathtaking.. looking forward to the scenery but not the driving part. Insyaallah it will be fine as my other half said that he will stop every 2 hrs for stretching but knowing him.. we most probably will make more stops.. why? Well.. he loves photography.. so he definitely will stop to take pictures. Biiznillah.. I will share some photos and also write the driving experience to Musandam in future posting.

Enough with the blabbering.. lets look at this lovely kuih. Cek Mek Molek .. direct translation will be Beautiful Lady. This is a traditional Kelantanse kuih and is very similar to kuih keria except that this kuih has the sugar on the inside instead of the sugar coating on the outside. This kuih only has 3 ingredients; sweet potato, flour and sugar. Normally if you buy from the stall.. the amount of sugar inside this kuih is almost none.. come on people.. this kuih will never be cek mek molek if there is no sugar inside. I know that sugar is expensive but I don’t mind paying a bit more for a good amount of sugar in this kuih. Well.. my mum always say.. “if you not happy with the quality.. make yourself.”.. hmmm I dont mind making them when I am away from home but if I am in Kelantan.. my MALAS sickness always kick in hehehe. So.. today I’m gonna share with you the recipe for this cek mek molek.

Ingredients:

• 400g sweet potatoes
• 100g flour
• sugar

Methods:

1. Boil the sweet potatoes till tender. Drain and let it cood slightly
2. Mashed the cool sweet potatoes and add in the flour. Mix until it forms into a pliable dough. Note that the amount of flour stated is a rough estimation.. please add or reduce as required.
3. Take a small portion of the dough about the size of a ping pong ball and flatten it. Put 1/2 tsp of sugar in the middle and fold the dough to cover up the sugar and form it into a long oval shape.
4. Heat up some oil, deep fry until golden brown

Tak leh makan banyak2.. nanti kencing manis hehehe

I sometimes make it in larger quantity so that I can freeze them. If you want to make a frozen cek mek molek, I would suggest you fry them half cook, let them cool, put in a ziplock bag and place them in the freezer.

Red Velvet Belgian Waffles

Waffle with whipped cream and blueberries

Breakfast is one of the things that really stress me out. It has to be quick and at the same time can appeal to your kids appetite especially very early in the morning. I hate it if I made something and it is left untouched by them… and normally if they do that, the next morning they will have cereals for breakfast hehehe. I know I know.. I am a terrible mother. Don’t have to state the obvious…

Normally I do make things that they love in advance and freeze them such as rissoles and murtabak filling, so in the morning, I just need to fry them or assemble a mini murtabak for breakfast. So.. this waffle was made to see if it is worthy enough to make it to the breakfast table hahaha. I made the whole batch last week and it yielded about 16 small squares of waffles. I freezed a few squares and last weekend I reheated them up using the toaster and the waffle iron. Both turned up to be okay but my preference is still using waffle iron. I am pleased to tell you that this recipe is good enough to be another frozen food items in the freeze hehehe.

Belgium style waffle iron

Oh.. if any of you guys are wondering about the taste… I give 2 thumbs up for this recipe.. crunchy and lovely. Recipe was taken from Taste of Home with a little twist of my own.

Crunchy.. just the way I like it

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp red coloring
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• cream frosting, sliced fresh strawberries or syrup

Methods:

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. In another bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter, vanilla, vinegar and red coloring; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. 
2. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown. Serve with cream cheese frosting, strawberries or syrup.

Look at the colour.. love it

Sardine Curry Puff

My freshly made karipap sardin

Sardine curry puff aka kapipap sardin is one of my favourite snacks. Back when we were in Kuwait, I never felt the need to make karipap sardin myself… why??? Well… simply because there is a friend that always there for me to place an order hehehe. So.. when I first moved to Muscat, I’ll get whoever that wants to come to Muscat from Kuwait to bring a frozen karipap sardin for us… pathetic right? Well.. how long can a frozen karipap last especially when you fry them almost every other day. So.. I decided to try and make them myself. Lucky for me, I did try and learn from Azie how to make her famous karipap sardin when I was there. After couple of attempts, my other half finally said that I have perfected my karipap sardine..yeay… thank you again to Azie for being kind enough to give me her recipe.

Here is her recipe which I have already reduced to 1/3 (pengsan I kalau  buat 1kg macam Azie hehehe..) If you would like to frozen this karipap sardin for future use, just fry them half way and let it cool completely before placing them in the freezer.

Ready to be frozen

Ingredient:

Dough:

• 330g flour
• 1 tbsp margerine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp hot oil
• water

Sardine filling:

• 1 can of 425g sardine – mashed coarsely
• 1 can of 185g tuna – mashed coarsely
• 2 onions -finely chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic -finely chopped
• 4 tsp chili paste
• 2 bird’s eye chilies -finely chopped
• 3 tsp tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp tomato sauce from the can
• salt and sugar to taste
• oil for sautee

Method:

Dough:

1. Place the flour, margerine and salt into the bowl and mix well.
2. Heat up oil in a pan and then pour into the flour mixture. Mix well. Leave it to cool for couple of minutes.
3. Pour water slowly into the mixture until you get a soft dough.  The amount of water may varies depending on the flour. leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
4. Roll and then cut the dough into circles. Put in a little filling in the center of the dough, fold over to make a half circle and crimp at edges. Deep fry in hot oil until golden.

Sardine filling:

1. Heat large pan or skillet with oil, add in onion, garlic and chili paste, fry until fragrant.
2. Add in sardine and tuna. Cook for few munites.
3. Add in tomato sauce, tomato sauce from the can, salt, sugar and minced bird’s eye chili. Cook for another 5 minutes. Once cooked, set aside to cool completely. ( I normally drained the oil from the filling before using them)

 

Ubi Getuk (Fried Mashed Tapioca)

My getuk ubi kayu

Assalamualaikum and a very good day friends. Cant believe it that today is already Thursday which means the school break is almost over sob sob sob.

Best….

Kids are on study-mode holiday… and to tell you the truth, me and my other half really surprised that they REFUSED to go for holidays even for a day and insist on studying (I should be happy right?)… so in order to make sure that they really study and not distracted by other technologies gadgets…we decided to convert our dining table into study area….

Books books books and more books

Normally they study in their room which makes it impossible for me to monitor. So having them studying in the living room and having the study plan for the whole week which I personally made for them, it gives me some comfort that  they will insyaallah be a little bit more prepared for the coming exam.

Dining table full of books

So.. what do I do the whole week? Nothing much because I cant watch the TV as it will definitely going to distract them and I do not fancy going out as the temperature outside is about 39C already… so what do I do? … read books… ape lagi. Managed to finish 2 books and spent more time working with Haqeem on homework. Oh… besides that, making Milo ice cream for the kids everyday hehehe. Believe it or not, within this week alone 2kg of milo is gone! Help! Help! Help! My milo stock is depleted!

Milo ice cream …

Okay… enough with that, let’s look at this all time favourite snack… ubi getuk. I totally love it and since we are not in Malaysia, there is no chance of getting it by the roadside… kena extra rajin la sikit if nak makan this ubi getuk… Cant remember where I took the recipe from but thanks anyway to who ever post it.

Ingredient:

Batter

• 3/4 up rice flour
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
• 1 tsp lime water (air kapur)
• 1 cup water
• 4 tbsp hot oil

Mashed tapioca

• 2 cup mashed tapioca
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• Oil for frying

Method:

Batter

1. Mix all the dry ingredient in a bowl. Add in lime water and water. Mix well.
2. Add in hot oil and quickly mix the batter. Add more water if the batter is too thick.

Mashed tapioca

1. Peel off tapioca’s skin and wash clean.
2. Heat heavy pot and boil the tapioca until cooked.
3. Once, tapioca became soft, strain till dry and then mashed
4. Placed the mashed tapioca into a bowl. Add in the rest of the ingredient. Shape into 1 inch balls.
5. Dip the ball into the batter and coat thoroughly. Place in the hot oil a few at a time and cook for about 5 minutes turning occasionally until golden brown. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Tapioca is easily available here in Middle East.

 

Pancakes

My Homemade pancake

This week is The International week for the Infant Department. Each class was given one specific country and during this week, the kids learned everything about that country such as their history, culture, food, clothing and as well as the meaning of the colours of their flag. Haqeem’s class learned about Egypt and today everyone come to school wearing the costume representing the country that they have learned. Kat sini people take costume day seriously and a lot of shops sell costume for almost all occasion. So, yesterday we bought Egyptian costume from the Toy World and mind me, it cost KD8… mahal gila. That will be RM88! Nak pengsan rasanye. Nak tengok RM88 punya costume looks like? Ini lah dia…

Ready to visit my Pyramid hihihi..

The Pharaoh in school

Haqeem with his best buddy Hamad

Pn Lisa Samad’s daughter representing Zimbabwe…

African continent!

Aren’t they cute?

Okay… back to business  Today nak cerita pasal pancakes. When Umi is super duper lazy , all you can see on a breakfast table will be pancakes pancakes and more pancakes he he he. This recipe makes a fluffy pancakes and the best thing is, you can make the pancake mixture and store it in your pantry way ahead of time. No need to buy the store box pancake mix when you can make it yourself. The recipe was taken from Nigella Lawsan, one of my favourite chef from Food Network.

My breakfast….

Ingredients:

Pancake Mix:

• 600g flour
• 50g baking powder
• 50g sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Pancakes:

• 1 cup pancakes mix
• 1 cup buttermilk ( I sometimes just used fresh milk)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp butter – melted
  

  Fluffy pancake

Method:

• Pancakes Mix : Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix. Use the mix within 3 months.
• Pancakes : Whisk together the egg, the buttermilk and melted butter in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don’t try to work all the lumps out. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle. When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Lovely

Shrimp Toast

Shrimp Toast

Howdy howdy howdy… I hope everyone is in good mental state on this lovely day he he he… Well, after a long 3-day weekend I think everyone should be fully recharged and eager to start their week regardless of what line of job they are in. Actually for us in Kuwait we started our brand new week yesterday (Sunday) because we had our public holiday on Thursday but it is not too late to wish everyone a wonderful week ahead.

February is a very short month for us in Kuwait. Why? Well, Kuwait celebrates their National and Liberation Day on the 25th and 26th of February every year and the government normally will give few days extra. As for our kids’ school, this year it will be closed from 24th February to 3rd March, a total of 9 days break. Lots of people usually will take this opportunity to travel and if by now you have not booked your flight out of Kuwait, must probably you will have to stay here for that duration because the flights are fully booked already. Most people here make their February travel plans sometimes in December, so if you have missed the boat this year, make sure to put it in your diary so that you won’t miss it again!

Okay… enough with that, lets talk about our recipe for today ; Shrimp toast. This is originally a Chinese appetizer called Hatosi (蝦多士)  in Cantonese, Ha meaning shrimp, Tosi being a loan word from English meaning toast. This dish has over 100 years of history, originating in the Guangzhou Canton, in China’s Guangdong Province.

There are many different versions of this shrimp toast, but our family were introduced to this snack only a couple of week back by a  friend  at our favourite Thai restaurant here in Kuwait, where the shrimp paste-covered bread is dipped in sesame seeds before frying. This gives the end result a fantastic crunch and works perfectly with a sweet Thai sauce.

So crunchy and addictive....

Ingredient:

• 100g shrimp – peel and de-vein
• 1/2 tsp corn flour
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp egg white
• salt n pepper to taste
• sesame seed

Method:

1. Mix everything except sesame seed in food processor and pulse until become smooth paste.
2. Spread the paste onto a slice of bread and then cut into half. Coat with sesame seed.
3. Add about 1/2 inches of oil to a heavy bottomed pan until it reaches approx 190C. If you don’t have a thermometer, drop a small piece of bread into the oil. If it rises to the surface and starts sizzling, it is ready.
4. Add the toasts, shrimp and sesame seed side down. When the edges of the bread start to brown, flip the toasts over and fry the bread side until it is golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined rack with the bread side facing the paper towel to drain as much oil as possible.
5. Serve with the Sweet Thai Chili Sauce for dipping.

Thanks to Azura and Mady for introducing us to this wonderful snack

Mini Murtabak

My mini murtabak

Hello hello hello…. how’s everyone out there? Hope you are well and happy!

It seems to be the season of sales here in Kuwait, everywhere you look there are hoardings announcing ongoing sales and newspaper pages are loaded with advertisements of sales here and there. It looks like many businesses in the country are vying with one another to offer the best prices to lure customers during the year-end holiday season.

Have you been to the Avenues (Kuwait’s largest mall) lately? Well, we were there last weekend and I tell you… I can’t believe  it… reductions are up to 50% -75% on Autumn/Winter fashion, Accessories, Furniture and other items. For customers, this is possibly the best time to buy as usually end-of-year sales are genuinely lower priced than at any other time during the year. Don’t you love this season? Because I definitely do!

Okay… back to our recipe for today; Mini Murtabak. This is one of our favourite snack especially during Ramadhan. In this recipe I used the spring roll pastry simply because it is easy and the end result is still taste  just like the real murtabak at Pasar Malam in Malaysia. Enjoy!

Ingredient:
For the filling 🙂

• 450 g mince meat
• 4 cloves garlic- minced
• 1 yellow onion- diced
• 2 tbsp kurma powder(rempah kurma) + 3 tbsp water to form a paste
• 1 potato – diced
• sugar and salt to taste

For  dipping 🙂

• 1 red onion – sliced thinly
• 5 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar (add more if you like it sweet)
• pinch of salt

For assembling 🙂

• 3 eggs
• Spring rolls pastry

Methods:

Dipping : Mix everything in the bowl , taste and place it in the fridge at least 2 -3 hours before serving.

Filling :- Saute the garlic and onion till fragrant. Add the kurma paste and cook for few minutes. Add the mince meat, diced potato and a little bit of water. Add sugar and salt to taste. Cooked till the meat is cooked and the potato soften. Set aside to cool. Divide the filling into 3 equal portions.

How to Assemble:

1. Heat up a frying pan and pour about 1 tbsp of oil.
2. Take one portion of the filling and mix well with one egg.
3. Take a piece of spring roll pastry and place about 1 1/2 tsp of filling mixture, fold into a rectangular shape and place it into the frying pan. Repeat the whole process.
4. Cook the murtabak using slow fire till brown on both side. Serve with the dipping.

Favourite menu for Iftar

Chicken Rissoles

Chicken Rissoles

Assalamualaikum to all. I have been quite busy for the last 2 weeks, preparing my kids for their mid term exams and also because everyone was sick… it started with Sofea, then Aina, after that Haqeem, my other half and last Thursday was Jessy’s turn to get sick, she was on MC for 4 days. After 3 antibiotic shots and 1 bottle of Advil Syrup, alhamdulillah, she’s able to go to school today. This year, winter is quite cold compared to the previous year, in the morning the temperature normally drop to single digit, so it is very important for the girls to dress appropriately especially now that they are walking to school. But kids being kids, if you don’t remind them, they will just leave the house without any jacket….

Winter is a fun season in Kuwait because lots of outdoor activities can be done and the favourite outdoor activity here is bbq. People here like to bbq at the park or beach and normally they will go in the morning and pick a nice spot  for them to bbq. Don’t be surprised if you see them bringing their pillows to the bbq area… this is because they will eat, sleep and eat again he he he. They normally stay there sampai malam. Normally the whole family will be there and when I said the whole family, it means from the grandparents to grandchildren and not to forget all their maids he he he.

Rissoles with small green chili

Okay…our recipe today is rissoles or otherwise known as croquettes. Rissole is a breaded pastry shaped into a cylinder or disk, usually filled with meat or seafood in Béchamel sauce. In Indonesia, rissoles are called risol and they are normally eaten with chili sauce or small chili (cili padi).

Ingredient

Skin:

• 150 g flour
• 1 1/4 milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1 cup minced chicken/meat
• 1 carrot, diced (I omit because my kids tak makan vege)
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3tbsp butter
• 3tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Coating material:

• 2 eggs, beat well
• bread crumbs

Method:

Filling: Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté onion and garlic until fragrant. Place the ground beef, stirring until the beef cooked. Add flour and cook till thick and then add milk and carrot. Season to taste salt, pepper and sugar, stirring until thicken. Set aside.

Skin: Mix all ingredients until blended. Lightly grease a non-stick pan and place pan over medium heat. Pour about two tablespoons of batter into the pan and quickly swirl the pan to produce a thin crepe. Cook until the top of the crepe loses its shiny, wet appearance and the underside is lightly browned. Loosen edges of crepe with a spatula. Flip crepe and cook the other side for few seconds. Remove cooked crepe from pan and continue with the rest of the batter.

Assemble: Spoon 1tsp of filling on to the skin, fold and roll. Dip the Rissoles into beaten eggs, then roll into the bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil over medium heat until golden brown. Serve with small green chili or chili sauce.

Favourite breakfast at the moment

Sushi

My sausage and crab stick sushi

The clock shows 16:10 and believe it or not, I have not sat down since this morning….. really exhausted. Sunday is the busiest day of the week… biasalah, after weekend kenalah buat all the washing, cleaning, vacuuming, mopping and 1001 other things. Letih2 ni mulalah nak marah orang he he he but kena banyak2 bersabar as what my friend who is in the same boat as me said ” Sabar…. doing all the housework and taking care of kids banyak pahala!”  That is right provided you tak membebel and marah2 all the time, instead of dapat banyak pahala, dapat dosa pulak he he he.

Okaylah, lets talk about this sushi pulak. I made this sushi this morning after whole week of listening to my daughter blabbering about her friend bringing sausage sushi to school. So, last weekend I went and bought sushi rice and seaweed. Here is the recipe just in case anyone wants to make it.

Ingredient:

• 250g sushi rice
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2tbsp sugar
• seaweed
• wasabi
• Sausage or crabstick or tuna

Method:

1. Cook the sushi rice as per instruction on the packaging. Once cook and cool at room temperature, flavour the rice with vinegar and sugar.
2. Place seaweed sheets on large plates and place 1 to 2 tablespoons of rice on each sheet. Place one thin strip of wasabi  and one strip of sausage or any filling of your choice in the center; roll to form sushi.
3. Slice using a sharp knife. Serve.

Aina and Nurin's favourite.