My Kitchen and Me

I've been wanting to try this for a very long time. Finally made these for tea today! Yummy.. Ingredients: Pastry All purpose flour - 300g Margarine - 70g Water - 150 ml Salt - 1/4 tsp Filling Onion - 1/2 cubed Potatoes - 2 cubed Chicken breast - 1 cubed Chili powder - 1 1/2 tsp Meat curry powder - 1/ tsp Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Water - 100 ml Salt to taste Pepper to taste Prepare the filling first by sautéing onions in a little oil.  Add chili powder, meat curry powder, turmeric powder and continue to stir.  Add chicken pieces and potatoes. Add water and bring to boil. Season with salt and pepper. Once the potatoes are cooked and the liquid is reduced, remove from heat and let it cool. To make pastry, mix flour, margarine, salt, water and knead well until it forms a dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Cut the dough into circles about 2mm in diameter. Fold the filling in and seal the edges. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Kuih is a snack or dessert type of food found in many shapes, colours and textures. Seri muka is one of my favourite kuihs and I decided to try it at home. (Honestly, it's better to get them from the stalls as you will probably eat one or two pieces only.  ) Anyways, i t turned out well but we couldn't finish the whole tray at home. We gave some to our neighbours and.... they loved it!  Ingredients: Bottom layer Glutinous Rice - 250g (aoaked for 4 hours, and drained)  Bottom Layer Thin coconut milk - 150 ml Salt - 1/4 tsp Top Layer Eggs - 2 Castor sugar - 150g Pandan Juice (Blend approx 10 pandan leaves with 120ml water) Coconut milk - 350ml All-purpose flour - 120g Corn flour - 3 tbsp Salt - 1/4 tsp *Green colouring (optional) Steam glutinous rice with coconut milk and salt for 30 minutes. Let it rest for about 5-10 minutes and transfer to a square pan. Press it with the back of a wet spoon till firm and let it cool. To prepare the top layer, beat eggs an...

Garlic bread is so good that I find it necessary to have them when I prepare soups. Here's 3 very simple steps to get these delicious slices. Ingredients: French baguette - 1 sliced  Garlic - 3 cloves Butter - 3 tbsp Parsley - chopped finely Mash the garlic and butter in a bowl. Spread them evenly on the sliced baguettes and sprinkle some chopped parsley. Bake in oven at 170C degrees for 5 minutes or until it's golden brown. There you go, 3 simple steps and it's ready!

Trying to keep cool during this hot season, I made some soy milk. It's extremely easy to make and is also very nutritious. Ingredients: Soy beans - 125 g Water - 1 litre Pandan leaf- 1 (optional) Sugar to taste Soak the soy beans overnight. Remove the hulls by kneading the soy beans and rinse with water. Blend the soy beans with 1 litre of water in a blender . Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth to recover the soy milk. Heat the milk till boiling point together with a pandan leaf. Continue to boil for 5-10 minutes. Stir sugar to taste.

My family and close friends know that I am very fond of Malay and Thai food. Nasi Goreng Kampung is a type of fried rice with anchovies, water convolvulus and bird's eye chilies as the key ingredients. I used to have this very often during my campus days. Here's my take on one of Malaysia's most popular fried rice! Ingredients: Rice - 2 cups Chicken breast - 1 cut into small pieces Water convolvulus (kangkung)  - 1 handful Carrot - 1/4 cut into thin stripes Fried anchovies - 1 handful Bird's eye chilies - 5 slit Light soy sauce - 3 tbsp Salt to taste Pepper to taste To blend: Onions - 1/2 Garlic - 5 cloves Anchovies - 2 tbsp Bird's eye chilies - 6 Heat some oil in a wok and stir fry the blended ingredients, soy sauce and salt until they turn slightly brown. Add chicken pieces and stir fry until they are cooked. Put in the cooked rice and stir well. Add water convolvulus, carrots and bird's eye chilies. Continue to toss and stir. Ensure eve...

Being Indians, we prepare sambar almost every week. Well... it's easy to prepare and it compliments both veg and non-veg dishes. There are many varieties of it and this is a plain sambar which goes particularly well with breads and chappatis. You may also add in vegetables such as carrot, brinjal and okra. Ingredients: Dhal - 1/2 cup soaked Potatoes - 1 cubed Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Chili powder - 1 1/2 tsp Grated coconut - 3 tbsp Garlic - 2 cloves Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Tamarind juice - 2 tbsp Seasoning: Shallots - 3-4 chopped Dried chilies - 3-4 cut small Curry leaves - 1 spring Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Coriander leaves - chopped for garnishing Boil dhal in 2 cups of water with garlic and salt. Once the dhal is cooked and tender, mash them a little. Add turmeric powder, chili powder, potatoes, tamarind juice and 2 more cups of water. Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are cooked. Grind cumin seeds and grated coconut to a fine paste. Add ...

Ingredients: Chicken – 1/2 kg medium size pieces Onions – 4 big sliced thinly Ginger-garlic paste – 3 tsp Curry leaves – 2 spring Chili powder – 3 ts p Coriander powder – 5 tsp Turmeric powder – 1 tsp Garam masala powder – 1 tsp Salt to taste Pepper to taste Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste and salt for 1/2 hr. Cook on low heat without adding much water. Once chicken is 50% cooked, dish out and keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan, add onions, curry leaves, salt and rest of the ginger-garlic paste. Saute it for about 10 minutes until the onions turns very translucent and soft. Add all the spices and fry it for another 3 minutes. Now add the partially cooked chicken and fry it well till the chicken is well coated with the masala and is cooked well. Continue stirring. When a reddish brown color is attained, the dish is ready to be served. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with rice or chappati.

I've always wanted to try this dish at home. My brother who loves fishing brought home this lovely Jenahak, and I just had to make this. It turned out well, but I added a tad bit too much of tamarind. Nevertheless it was great and here's the improvised recipe! Ingredients: Jenahak - 1/2 cut into small pieces Okra - 5-6 cut into small pieces Tomato - 1 cut into wedges Fish curry powder - 1 tsp Sugar - 1 tsp Tamarind juice - 5 tbsp Water - 1 cup Turmeric - 1/2 tsp Spice: Garlic - 1 clove Lemon grass - 2 staks (white part only) Shallots - 4 Dried chillies - 8-10 Belacan - 1/2 tbsp Marinate the fish with salt and turmeric. Fry in oil until golden brown, drain and set aside. Pound the spice paste with a pestle and mortal. You could also use a blender but the former yields a better taste. Heat oil in a pan and fry the spice taste till fragrant. Add tamarind juice, water and fish curry powder. Let it boil. Add tomatoes and okra. Add pre-fried fish, salt and sugar. Let it simmer on ...

Here's a very simple recipe to a bowl of heart warming soup. Ingredients: Chicken pieces - 8-10 medium sized Ginger juice - 2 tbsp Carrots - 1 cut cubed Cabbage/salad leaves - few small pieces *optional* Potatoes - 1 cubed Onions - 1/2 chopped thinly Spring onions - 1 stalk chopped Water - 3 cups Salt Pepper Fry the onions in some oil. Remove and set aside. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of oil. Once smoking, add chicken pieces. Stir fry briefly and add water. When it starts to simmer, add salt, pepper and ginger juice. Let it cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes before adding carrots and potatoes. Add cabbage/salad leaves once the other vegetables are cooked. Check for salt and adjust if needed. The soup is ready to be served. Don't forget to sprinke some freshly chopped spring onions and pre-fried onions!

When I cook, I like to experiment with easy-to-make recipes. This is one of them! You can play around with the measurements for a darker/lighter sauce, or add cashew nuts instead of peanuts...You can't go wrong! Ingredients: Boneless chicken breast - 1 1/2 Roasted peanuts - 3 tbsp Dried chilies - 8-10 cut small Ginger - 1 inch sliced Garlic - 2 cloves sliced Spring onions - 1 stalk chopped Marinate: Corn starch - 1 tbsp Light soy sauce - 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine - 1 tbsp Oil - 1 tsp Sauce: Light soy sauce - 1 1/2 tbsp Dark soy sauce - 1 tsp Sugar - 1 tsp Black vinegar - 1/4 tsp Water - 2 tbsp Corn starch - 1 tsp Cut the chicken into small pieces and marinate with the above ingredients for about 20-30 minutes. Heat a wok with a little oil and stir fry the marinated chicken until they are 3/4 cooked. Dish out and set aside. Add 2 tbsp oil in a cleaned wok and put in ginger, garlic and dried chillies. Once fragrant add the partially cooked chicken in. Add roasted peanuts and the pr...

One of my all-time favourite vegetable dish. The key ingredient is none other than the spicy and aromatic sambal paste. Ingredients: Four angled beans - Sliced thinly Sambal paste: Garlic - 2 cloves Onion - 1/2 Dried chilies - 4-5 Anchovies - 5-8 cleaned Belacan (shrimp paste)- 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Pound dried chilies, onions, garlic and anchovies or grind them in a food processor. Set aside the paste. Heat some oil in a pan, and fry the spices until fragrant. Add sliced four angled beans and stir well. Season with salt and belacan. Once the beans are cooked, dish out to serve.

Ingredients: Bittergourd - 1 cut into small cubes Yogurt - 1 cup Curry leaves - 1 spring Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Dried chili - 2 cut into small pieces Green chili - 1/2 sliced thinly Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp Salt to taste Heat oil in a pan and fry the diced bittergourd till light golden brown. Drain the oil and set the bitergourd aside. In the same oil splutter mustard and add green chilly, curry leaves, dried chilies, ginger/garlic paste and sauté till they turn golden brown. Pour the bittergourd and sauteed ingredients into the curd. Give it a good stir. Season with a little salt if needed and it's ready to be served!