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!

Fish curry

This morning was havoc at my house. Today we're taking the car to the office. Meaning I had to leave early than usual. Meaning I had to finish all my cooking (breakfast & lunch), hang the laundry, sweep the floor, etcetera, etcetera, before 7am. And of all days, my daughter decided to cry out loud today for some silly reasons!

However, amidst the havoc, I managed to cook this lovely fish curry. Perasan! Just fry pounded garlic + onion + a little ginger with 3 tablespoon of cooking oil until aromatic, then put in a packet of fish curry powder that has been mixed with 4 tablespoon of water. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Meanwhile, mix 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste into 1 cup of water. Then add into the curry mixture in your pot/wok. Add 1 cup of coconut milk. Let it simmer for 5-6 minutes. Stir once in a while. When the mixture boils, add 4 slices of fish (I use mackerel), some ladies fingers that had been cleaned, and 1 tomato, quartered. If you like more gravy to your curry, add more water. Add salt to taste. Let it cook for another 5 minutes. Then serve.

Well, in my case, I just leave it in the pot until I come home from the office in the evening.. sigh..

Bubur pulut hitam

It's been a while since I made bubur pulut hitam (black sticky rice sweet porridge). Bought 300 grams of the grains at the wet market this morning, and I cooked all of it. As a result, I have half of the 5 liter pot full! Way too much! After consuming 2 bowls of the porridge just now, I've decided that I have to share it with a neighbor, and I did. Hope they like it as much as I do.

Making this porridge takes patients. We need to soak the sticky rice for at least 3-4 hours, overnight is better. Then boil it for another 2 hours till the rice softens and in the process you have to stir it often so that it doesn't stick to your pot (hence the name 'sticky rice'). Add more water if the rice feels too 'heavy' to stir. Then put in daun pandan, sugar and lastly coconut milk.

Aaahh.. nice!

Lempeng

My sister's kids are at home. I have to babysit them for one night since she & the husband are out of town. So what would I make for breakfast? Something that is enjoyed by my family - lempeng! It's a Malay version of pancake, minus the baking powder & soda. We enjoy having lempeng with sambal sardin, the hotter the better.

Lempeng is very easy to make. Just mix a few cups of flour with water, 1 egg and add a little salt to taste until the batter resembles... hmmm.. a pancake batter. Haha.. not that helpful right? You mix the ingredients until it is not too thick or too thin (up to your imagination lah).

To cook, put a teaspoon of oil in the kuali, make sure the sides of the kuali is covered with oil, and put in 1/2 cups of batter and thin it out to the sides of the kuali. Objective is to make the lempeng nice and thin. After a minute or two, turn the lempeng upside down and cook for another minutes. Then serve.

Wasn't it easy?

Long Beans with Shrimp

Today is Saturday, but my kids have sekolah ganti. My parents will have their kenduri for Umrah tonite. So I have to cook lunch for the kids and my husband, and I will be going to my parents house to help with whatever necessary. As you know me, I love simple dishes but tasty, at least for my kids' taste buds. And today I chose to cook long beans with shrimp. But looking at the picture, it's more like shrimp with long beans, haha..

Clean some shrimp, slice a couple cloves of garlic, cut some onions, slice some red chili and bird's eye chili (this is optional, only if you want the dish hotter). And with about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, put all your ingredients in the kuali. Add some tumeric powder (for the color) and salt to taste. It's done!

You can also replace the shrimp with sliced chicken, beef, squid, whatever. It will taste good. Trust me.

Gulai Daging Stail Omak Den

Gulai orang nogori sembilan tak ado buboh bawang doh.. that's what my mother used to tell me. And I welcomed it, a lot. I mean, we just have to use bird's eye chilli, some fresh tumeric and lemon grass. Pound them together, put the paste in a pot, throw in the meat which had been cut into cubes (size is up to your preference), some cubed potatoes, and coconut milk. Add salt to taste. That is all to it. Simple. Again, what's not to like right? So go ahead, try it!

Owh, by the way, the actual thing is so much better looking than the picture above. I seriously need a good camera.. Any sponsors out there? Hehehe..

The not so bitter Bitter Gourd

Went to the market today, as any other Sundays or sometimes Saturdays, depending on the mood. Been planning to go to my mom's house for lunch today, and I intend to bring food. Now what do I cook? I've been asking this question a lot lately. Really, it's always the same thing, over and over again. Chicken curry, ikan sambal, beef soup, you know, the usual. Asking the kids doesn't help either. Whatever, ma.. that's their usual response.

Ok, let's see.. for the kids, I will cook ayam masak kicap. For my parents, I will fry terubok fish, make some sambal asam jawa to eat the fish with. And some ulam would be nice.

And then, I thought of this - bitter gourd. It is always welcomed at my parent's house. Actually this vege tastes quite nice. What you do is pound some onion + garlic + red chili + anchovy and stir fry with the bitter gourd. And some salt to taste, and a little water. The normal process takes about 10 minutes to complete.

For those of you who're 'afraid' of trying this vege, now is the time. The vege is cheap, the other ingredients are also cheap. If you don't like the result, just dump it in the trash. Simple huh?