My Kitchen and Me

A simple salad recipe to go along some hot and spicy Thai dishes! Ingredients: Cucumber (shredded) - 1 Carrot (shredded) - 1/2 Onion (thinly sliced) - 1 Lime juice - 1 tsp Peanuts (ground) - 10-12 Salt to taste Just add in the cucumber, carrot and onion in a bowl. Add in the lime juice and salt. Give it a good mix. Serve it on a plate and garnish with some ground peanuts. That's it! (P.S: Add in some cut bird's eye chillies to give it a spicy twist.)

A very simple yet tasty dish! My 8 year old cousin loved it. I made hers minus the chillies :) Ingredients: Chicken (minced) - 100g Tofu (minced) - 1 Shallots (diced) - 1 Garlic (diced) - 3 cloves Bird's eye chili - 2 Basil leaves - 4-5 Lime leaves (slit) - 2 Fish sauce - 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Pepper to taste Heat the wok with oil and add in the shallots, garlic, and chillies. Stir awhile before adding in the minced chicken and basil leaves. Add fish sauce, dark soy sauce, salt and pepper. When the chicken is almost cooked, and in the minced tofu and lime leaves. Continue to stir. Check for salt and spice levels. Dish it out on some warm rice.

Decided to try out this mango pudding dessert from About.com to accompany my Thai dishes. My little cousins loved it! Ingredients: Ripe mangoes - 2 Gelatin - 3 tsp Hot water - 1/2 cup White sugar - 1/3 cup Coconut milk - 1 cup Scoop out the fruit. Place the fruit in a food processor and blitz to create a smooth mango puree. Leave the mango in the processor. In a saucepan, heat up the water until it reaches a rolling bowl. Remove from heat. While stirring the water with a whisk or fork, sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the water and stir briskly in order not to have any lumps. Add the sugar to the hot water/gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve. Add this mixture to the mango in the food processor. Also add the coconut milk. Blitz briefly until ingredients are combined. Pour into dessert bowls or cups and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Serve cold on its own, or with some fresh fruits. (I served mine with some Nata de Coco and diced fresh mangoes.)

I decided to cook Thai dishes just the other day. Made some green prawn curry, minced basil chicken and cucumber salad. I thought my green curry turned out well, but it wasn't spicy enough for me. I guess I was too cautious when adding in those chillies (that's also why the green curry is pale in color) Sigh! Anyway here's how I prepared it.. Ingredients: Prawns Kaffir lime leaves - 4 Fresh basil - 5 Coconut milk Capsicum (cut into chunks) - 1 Green curry paste: Thai green chillies - 4 (add more if you prefer your curry to be spicy) Shallots - 1/2 Garlic - 4 cloves Ginger (grated) - 3 tbsp Lemongrass - 1 stalk Ground coriander - 1/2 tsp Ground cumin - 1/2 tsp Shrimp paste - 1 tsp Fresh coriander leaves (chopped) - 1 cup Pepper - 1/2 tsp Fish sauce - tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Lime juice - 2 tbsp Place all the "green curry paste" ingredients together in a food processor and blend it into a paste. Set aside. Cut the lime leaves into strips. Heat the wok with some oil and a...

Tomyam is a soup dish which originated from Thailand and is widely served in neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Tomyam is characterized by its distinct hot and sour flavors, with fragrant herbs generously used. This is my first attempt to prepare this famous soup. Recipe adapted from Shiokfood with some changes. Boneless chicken breast (cut into small pieces) - 50 gm Prawns - 10 Galangal - 1 tbsp Fresh or frozen lemongrass - 1-2 Kaffir Lime Leaves - 2-3 Chili paste - 2 tbsp Thai bird's eye chillies - 4-5 Fish sauce - 2 tbsp Lime juice - 2 medium lime Onion (sliced) - 1/4 Sugar - 1/2 tsp Coriander leaves - 4 tbsp Prawn stock (Boil some prawn shells with water and lemon grass. This will give you prawn stock.) With the flat side of a heavy object, pound and bruise the lemongrass. Cut into 2 inch segments. Put lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, chili paste and stock into a pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes. Uncover the po...

I first tasted this lamb chop many many years back. My aunt thought me how to prepare this dish and it's surprising how simple it is. The only down-side is it takes a rather long time to cook. This lamb chops are best prepared with lamb ribs, but I couldn't find them and ended up using lamb shoulders. Ingredients: Lamb - 5-6 ribs Onions - 2 Ginger - 1 Garlic - 3 cloves Chili powder - 4 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Cinnamon - 2 sticks Water - 5 cups Eggs - 1 First, blend the onions, ginger and garlic in a food processor. Heat a little oil in the pan and add in the blended mixture together with cinnamon. Add in the chili and turmeric powder and stir awhile. Pour in the water. Once boiling, put the ribs in, and let it boil, stirring occasionally until the ribs are coated with the thickened gravy. (This process should take about an hour.) Keep the ribs aside to cool. Beat an egg in a bowl and heat some oil in the frying pan. Coat the ribs with egg before frying them. Remove once b...

Every time my mom asks me to cook some vegetable for dinner, I normally look for beans or cabbage in the fridge. Both are easy to cook and they go well with Indian curries. This long beans recipe is particularly good with fish curry . It requires minimal ingredients and I have cooked this just too many times. Ingredients: Long beans (cut diagonally) Onions (chopped) - 1 Garlic (crushed) - 2-3 cloves Grated coconut - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - 5-6 Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Salt to taste Pepper to taste Heat some oil in the pan and put in the mustard seeds. Add onions, garlic and curry leaves. Next, add in the coconut and turmeric powder along with a pinch of salt. Put in the long beans and stir occasionally till the beans are cooked. Add a dash of pepper and adjust salt levels. Tadaaa.. It's ready to be server along with some rice and curry.

Made this non-spicy version of maggi goreng a few weeks back. You can spice it up by adding in some bird's eye chillies. Ingredients: Instant noodles - 1 packet Onions (thinly sliced) - 1 Garlic (crushed) - 1 Dried shrimps (crushed) - 10-15 Carrot (thinly cut into strips) - 1 Cabbage (thinly cut into strips) - 1/4 Chicken breast (cut into small pieces) Fish ball - 3-4 Eggs - 1 Soy sauce - 2 tbsp Salt to taste Soak the instant noodles in hot water. Drain them once soft and springy. Set aside. Heat up the wok with some oil. Put in the crushed garlic and dried shrimps and then the onions. Add soy sauce and salt. Then add the chicken pieces and sliced fish balls. Once the chicken is cooked, add the cabbage, carrots and instant noodles. Continue to stir until everything is well mixed. Separate the noodles to the sides of the wok and break the eggs in the middle. Once the eggs are almost cooked, give everything a good stir. Dish out and serve with some sliced cucum...

I came across a recipe for Thai Fish Cake online but I didn't have all the ingredients needed. Instead, I had an idea to make my own fish fritters with what I had and it actually turned out pretty well. Ingredients: White-fleshed fish fillets - 500g Coriander leaves (chopped) Onions (chopped) - 1 Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp Fish sauce - 2 tbsp Corn flour - 2 tbsp Salt to taste Pepper to taste Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut into chunks and place in a bowl. Mesh it up a little. Add remaining ingredients; onions, coriander leaves, ginger, corn flour, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Mix them well. Heat up some oil in a pan. The mixture will be very sticky so it's best to scoop it with a spoon before dropping it into the oil. Once brown, drain the fritters onto a plate lined with paper towel. Serve with Thai sweet chili sauce.

This is another easy to make recipe and goes very well with some warm rice and a bowl of tomyam soup. One of my favourite dishes to make! Ingredients: Eggs - 3 Onion (chopped) - 1 Garlic (chopped) - 1 Frozen mix vege - 1/4 packet Chicken breast (chopped) Cilli sauce - 4 tbsp Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp Plum sauce - 2 tbsp Chicken stock - 1/4 cup Salt to taste Pepper to taste Beat the eggs with a little salt and pepper. Fry them and set aside. Heat the wok with some oil and add the onions and garlic. Stir till fragrant. Add in the chopped chicken and stir well. Put in the mix vege and then the chilli sauce, oyster sauce, plum sauce and chicken stock. Continue to stir for a few minutes. Add in some salt and pepper to taste. Pour this gravy over the pre-fried egg and serve with some warm rice. A simple and tasty dish!

Nasi lemak is said to be the national food of Malaysia. It is typically eaten for breakfast, but these days, we even have it for dinner. Traditionally, this comes as a platter of food wrapped in banana leaf, with cucumber slices, dried anchovies ( ikan bilis ), roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg, and hot spicy sauce ( sambal ) at its core. So, here I present you nasi lemak, a truly Malaysia dish. I replaced the usual sambal with prawn sambal . and the hard boiled eggs with fried eggs. Ingredients: Coconut milk rice: Rice - 2 cups Screwpine leaves (tie into knots) - 3 Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp Coconut milk Some water Salt to taste Prawn sambal : Prawns - 15-20 Dried chillies - 8-10 Red onion - 1 Garlic (crushed) - 1 clove Shallots -3 Carrot - 1/4 Tomato - 1 Belacan (prawn paste) - 1 tsp Salt to taste Sugar to taste Other ingredients: Eggs Dried anchovies Cucumber (sliced) -1 Rinse the rice and drain. Add the coconut milk, grated ginger, a pinch of salt, an...

Japanese Egg Tofu - These are vacuum packed in plastic tubes, medium-soft textured in a slightly off white colour. It turns a mild shade of yellow when cooked and has an eggy taste to it as it melts in your mouth. This is a family favourite when we go to Chinese restaurants where it's typically served on a hot plate. I tried to re-create something similar in my kitchen. Ingredients: Egg tofu - 3 packets Onions (chopped) - 1 Minced prawns - 7-8 Minced chicken - 100g Minced fishball - 100g Spring onion (chopped) - 1 Soy sauce - 1 tbsp Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp Corn flour - 1/2 tbsp Chicken stock - 1 cup Salt to taste Pepper to taste Cut the tofu into one inch slices and pan fry both sides until lightly brown, then set aside. Sautee half of the spring onions, onions, minced prawns, chicken and fishball. Add in the soy sauce, thick soy sauce, chicken stock and salt. Stir in the cornstarch, cook to a boil and let it simmer for a minute or so. Add in a dash of pepper. Pour gravy over tofu. G...

This is a simple and easy to make dish. I usually prepare this for breakfast over the weekends. Ingredients: Rice noodles - 1/2 bag Onions (thinly sliced) - 1 Garlic (crushed) - 1 Dried shrimps (crushed) - 10-15 Carrot (thinly cut into strips) - 1 Cabbage (thinly cut into strips) - 1/4 Chicken breast (cut into small chunks) Eggs - 2 Chilli powder - 1 tbsp Soy sauce - 2 tbsp Salt to taste Soak the rice noodles in warm water. Drain them once soft and set aside. Heat up the wok with some oil. Put in the crushed garlic and dried shrimps. Give it a good stir and add in the onions. Add the chilli powder, soy sauce and salt and cook until the rawness of the spice is gone. Put in the chicken pieces and stir well. Next, add the cabbage, carrots and rice noodles. Continue to stir until everything is well mixed and add in the eggs. (I usually fry the eggs separately before adding them in.) Dish out and serve.

An apple crumble will take less time and ingredients to prepare than an apple pie, but it's just as delicious and comforting. I've made this a few times and my family loves it. It goes very well with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. The combination of hot apples and cold ice cream is heavenly! Ingredients: Granny Smith apples - 5-6 Plain flour - 200g Sugar - 200g Butter - 120g Cinnamon stick -1 Ground almonds Peel and core the apples and dice them into smaller chunks. Put the apples into a pan, add 3/4 of the sugar, cinnamon stick and cover the pan. You can add a little water here. Let it stew gently for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lightly mash the apples. The apples should be soft but not pureed. Put the apples into a serving dish and allow to cool. To make the crumble, mix flour, ground almonds, the remaining sugar and butter with your fingers until it becomes breadcrumb like. Sprinkle the crumble and cover the entire surface of the stewed apples. Bake for 30...

Welcome to my very first blog post :) My brother went fishing during the weekend and brought home a huge fish. (Sorry, but I have no idea what fish it was.) I had a hard time deciding what to do with it and finally decided to make fish curry with it. Fish curry is a well known South Indian dish and can be made using any fish with firm white flesh. This recipe is adapted from Adukala Vishesham with some minor changes.The outcome was pretty good for a first timer and it tasted even better the next day! Ingredients: Fish Shallots (chopped) - 2-3 Garlic (crushed) - 1 tsp Ginger (crushed) - 1 tsp Tomatoes - 2-3 Green chillies -2 Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp Coriander powder - 1 tbsp Chilli powder - 2 1/2 tbsp Fish curry powder - 2 tbsp Coconut milk - 1/2 cup Water - 1 1/2 cup Salt to taste Pepper to taste Heat some oil in the pot. Once hot, put in the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, onions, garlic, ginger, curry leaves and green chilli. Once the on...