Lasagna

I fell in love with lasagna (as many other food hehehehhe..) when I first tried it at my friend's house a few years ago. Since then, I tried them a few times, at restaurants but nothing beats the one that my friend cooked. I have asked her to teach me how to cook this dish but with her and my busy schedule, the cooking class never happened, and the craze for lasagna slowly fades away.

Until early this year, somehow, I dreamed about making lasagna again.. I search for the recipe the internet, and not to mention long hours learning it on Youtube on how to exactly do it. And today, I finally have the guts to try making it for the first time. Long recipe (story) short (hahhaa..), this is the result of my learning. An AMAAAZING lasagna!

Recipe? I just copy foodwishes.com's recipe for the meat sauce and a basic bechamel sauce to complement it. That was it! It was pretty simple and I think I could do this again. Do let me know if you want the exact recipe for this ya.

Again, it is AMAAAZING :)

Tub Tim Krob

I had lunch with a few friends the other day at a Thai restaurant. The food was ok but the dessert was great! I had tub tim krob or waterchestnut or red rubbies and this is one Thai dessert that I loove. I used to make this dessert a few years back but coming out of that restaurant, I swear that I would make it again. I just couldn't have enough of it!

This dessert is quite simple to make really. All you need is small sack (about 10) water chestnuts, red food coloring, tapioca flour, sugar and coconut milk. Start will peeling the water chestnuts (I got mine done by my daughter) as I don't really like doing it. Then dice them, size is up to you. Then mix the diced water chestnuts with a few drops of red food coloring, leaving it for 5 minutes for the color to be absorbed. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water, put pandan leave if you like. Put some tapioca flour in a bowl, put the colored water chestnuts into the bowl. Shake the bowl to make the flour stick to the water chestnuts. To make the flour thicker, spray some water to the already floured water chestnuts, and repeat the process. When the water is boiling, put the floured water chestnuts in batches into the water. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the water chestnuts float. Using a slotted spoon, take the water chestnuts and tip them in an iced water. This prevents them from sticking together. Repeat the process till all the water chestnuts are cooked.To serve, put some water chestnuts into a bowl, add coconut milk, and some ice. Heaven!

Baklava

It's been a looooong time since I posted anything in this blog. Ok, let's talk about my latest project - Baklava! It's my new favorite, and it's all because of Chef Ammar. He made it look sooooo easy to make this mediterranean dessert. So, I began searching for the how-to's on Youtube. And I found this easy to follow video: http://www.dedemed.com/mediterranean/baklava-recipe.

All the ingredients are super easy to find, except for the filo pastry, but now that I found the shop that sells the pastry, everything is like I said, super easy! I did not say that the actual making of this dessert is super easy though... It requires some patience (which is not really my area..) to lay the pastry and brush it with the melted butter. But how do you actually do this? I will not write the recipe here, so please go to the website above and read it yourself ok :)

Thanks Dedemed for this great recipe. I really hope you guys could make it and eat this dessert. Believe me, it's awesome!

Sauteed zuchini

Zuchini is a vegetable that only recently I came to love. It was alien to me before. We could not grow these vegetable at our backyards (or could we?). They look like cucumber only softer and they have great colors. The ones that I always see at the supermarket is bright yellow and dark green.

After searching for zuchini recipes on the net, I found that the simplest for me to try is just to sautee these vegetable. Heat the pan on medium high, then put in some olive oil. Then put in some sliced onion, sautee it until they become transparent. Then put in the zuchini that has been sliced. I like mine thinly sliced so that they cook faster. Then add salt and pepper. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, flipping the zuchini often. It's done!

Sauteed zuchini - it tastes good, looks good and very light, great for everybody even for dieters (not that I am dieting, which I think I should..) and the aroma, aahh.. so nice.

Lovely chicken and mushroom sandwich

My youngest daughter is a light eater. When she really eats, I am happy. When she is full, she is less cranky. She basically likes vegetable. Yes, she's quite different than other kids. I made pecal today and she only ate the kangkung!

I bought some wholemeal buns at Tesco yesterday and with some leftover roast chicken from yesterday, I thought it would make a great sandwich. What else do I add to make it an even better sandwich? In the fridge, I have 3 varieties of lettuce, and a pack of button mushroom from last week. I love mushroom as you can tell :P So I sauteed the mushroom in olive oil with some sliced onions, add some salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, cut the bun in half. Spread some mayo onto the cut sides of the bun. Put some cleaned lettuce onto the bottom half. Layer with shredded chicken, then top it with the sauteed mushroom and onion. I didn't put any sauce if you notice, but it's totally optional. Sandwiches are so versatile. Then top it with the other half of the bun and enjoy.

Anyway, my youngest daughter happens to looove this sandwich. And she ate about 3 of these today. So I am not worried that she only ate kangkung at lunch.

Orange Cake

Laila my daughter wanted to have a cake, and she kept on pestering me for it since yesterday. And when she mentioned it again this morning, I know I have to make it for her. After lunch, I took the butter out of the fridge. While resting, I suddenly have the urge to make that macaroons that I failed doing about a month ago. So I asked my youngest daughter to ask her sister whether she would consider making macaroons instead of a cake. She's always in her room upstairs you see, like any other teenage girls. The response was - no, it has to be a cake, and it has to be an orange cake!

So at about 3.30pm, I called her down to the kitchen, and made her help me with the preparation for the cake which include making the orange zest, orange juice, reading the recipe which I got from http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au (called lemon and orange cake), and help me wash the utensils :D I just bought a pack 0f oranges at Tesco yesterday, and today it went down to only 1 orange! The zest was enough but not the juice. So I topped it up with a bit of orange flavoring (about 1/2 teaspoon).

After about 50 minutes, the cake was done. Everybody was eagerly waiting to taste the cake and fortunately the cake came out great. It could've been better if I have more oranges or lemon so I could make the lemon orange glaze or citrus icing as the recipe mentioned and pour it onto the warm cake. But hey, Laila loved it, and so did my husband. I am happy.

Mushroom!

As usual, I went to the market today to buy food for the next 7 days. While browsing at a vegetable stall, I saw a basket of wild mushrooms! And these are not the oyster mushrooms that are cultivated in farms. These are the ones that you only find on anthills after rain, only if you are lucky. I heard a pakcik mentioned - these are grown by God. Hmm... interesting..

So I got myself about 400grams of these mushrooms and I was happy. How do I cook these mushrooms you asked? My favourite, a simple mushroom soup. Not the creamy type, just water, sliced garlic and a bit of sliced onion, lemon grass, some anchovies (not the ones you put in the ceasar salad) and salt. Just bring all these ingredients to a boil, the put in the mushrooms. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Done! At lunch, I have white rice with the mushroom soup, with sambal belacan and fried catfish. Heaven!