chicken casserole

after last nite's pan fry lamb, tonight pun rasa tak nak makan nasi. sebab sebenar, I run out of idea what to cook other than the kids favourite - ayam kicap..

so I decided to make chicken casserole which didn't take much effort actually, cuma cooking time aja yang lama sikit.

and I cheated again; this time I  used Colman Chicken Casserole mix that comes in a packet. just follow the instruction.

1. chicken casserole

• slice some carrots, baby corns, onion and button mushrooms, put them in the casserole dish with the chicken pieces (preferably chicken breasts). stir the casserole mix with cold water and pour into the casserole dish and cover the dish with aluminium foil and leave to cook in the oven for 1-1.5 hours.

2. mashed potatoes

• dice 5 potatoes, pour into pot of  boiling water and leave to cook. drain and mash, add butter and milk, season with salt & pepper. 

3. pasta salad

• boil pasta ( I used fusilli) until cooked/al dante, drain and put in the bowl, add green salad, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and/or salad cream. season with salt & pepper.

ALL DONE AND READY TO SERVE

pan fry lamb

dah lama tak update pasal masak memasak kan?? to be honest, I've been very malas off late especially after balik from short cuti2 Malaysia.

anyway, yesterday I had to cook because encik suami who normally cooks western food, was mowing the front & back garden. and i had to get few tips from him.

it took me half hour to get everything done from start to finish but bearing in mind you have to do few things at the same time.

1. lamb chops

• just season with salt & pepper. heat the pan till hot, put a knob of butter and pan fry the lamb chops 3 minutes on each side until brown.

meanwhile, prepare the potatoes and vege.

2. potatoes, carrots, beans, mushroom & green salad

• leave the potatoes  skin on, wash thoroughly, cut into wedges.
• boil some water (i usually boil the water in the kettle - its quicker) and pour into pot, add pinch of salt and potatoes and leave to cook (try not to over cook) and drain.
• cut button mushrooms in quarters.  
• trim off the ends of green beans, cut carrots in strips and par boil in boiling water, drain.
• add dash of olive oil/bit of  butter in the pan (which was used to fry the lamb) and quickly pan fry the boiled potatoes, carrots, beans and mushrooms SEPARATELY.
• then put all in a bowl, add green salad, dried mixed herbs, season with salt & pepper and mix well. 

serve with mint sauce and gravy (we cheated - used Bisto onion gravy granules, just add hot water)

Ayam penyet

We were introduced to this Indonesian dish by Che Mat and Corlyn on our last visit home to JB last year. We were taken to a stall opposite some hotel. The name "ayam penyet" doesn't really do the dish justice as it implies that the chicken had been run over while crossing the road.

 

Anyway, I remembered the dish and wanted to try making it. Loked for the recipes on the internet and was bombarded with many different types of variations to the recipe. So I decided to look at the common ingredients and decided to try my own "made up" recipe.

 

Ingredients
1 chicken quartered (stab the fleshy parts so the marinade can seep in)

2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp jintan manis
1 tsp jintan putih
4 cloves

 

1 tsp turmeric powder (serbuk kunyit)

2 to 3 tsp sugar
11/2 tsp sea salt

1 inch ginger
5 cloves of garlic
2 birds chillies
1 red chilly

 

Note: the above amounts are minimum. You can add a bit more according to personal taste.

 

Method
Dry roast the spices on a pan until fragrant. Then using the pestle and mortar, grind them until powderyadd the sugar and salt and continue grinding.  Next, add the ginger, garlic and chillies and pound until you get a paste-like substance.

 

Coat the paste all over the chicken and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours - the longer it is left to marinade the better.

 

Then bring to the boil half to one cup of water. Put the chicken in and cover. Simmer on a low heat setting for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours turning the chicken over every so often to ensure that all the parts of the chicken gets the marinade. Be careful the chicken doesn't break apart as it gets tender after cooking for a while.

 

Take the chicken out and drain. Then deep fry the chicken until golden brown and some parts are crispy.
 

 

We found that the chicken breast was a bit dry so I would suggest dipping the chicken back into the cooked juices of the marinade to let it soak in some of the delicious juices.

 

 

Then using the pestle, "penyetkan" or pound the chicken.
 

 

The leftover juices can be used to cook rice ala chicken-rice shop. Just add some star anise.
Hope you like this recipe.
 

foul medammas

thanks to my sis in law, cik noti who posted the pic of foul medammas & tempted me to make it for my brunch last Thursday.

this is cik noti's version..and I've got her recipe too. (which she wrote on her fb wall). thank u!

stir fry chopped onions n garlic dlm 2tbsp minyak
masukkan 3 to 4 cans of foul medammas.
Hancur2kan kacang foul tu biar separuh berbiji2. Masukkan 2tbsp serbuk ketumbar, 1tbsp cumin powder, 1 tsp fennel powder and 1tbsp crushed black pepper.
kacau sebati and  add 1 cup of water kalau nk pekat.
Masukkan 1 chopped tomato, dan biar sampai bubbling & tutup api. Serve dgn sliced garlic yg digoreng dgn olive oil, diced white onions, diced tomatoes, sliced green chillies, feta cheese or anything yg u like. Some people suka jugak telur goreng mata kerbau.


and this is my version. excuse the cream & jam fruit scone - that's my dessert..

 I garnished with sliced olives, chilly pepper, tomatoes, onion & feta cheese.

wednesday = pasta day

we normally have pasta on Wednesdays..don't know why.  maybe because I finish late of Wednesday and by the time I get home it would be too late to cook rice & dishes. big missy usually goes riding on Wednesday & daddy cant help with cooking.

2 easy pasta dishes I usually make, ready in half hour.

BROCOLLI PESTO PASTA

ingredients :

1. pasta - can be spaghetti or tagliatelli
2. broccoli - cut into small florets
3. 1/2 lemon -
4. button mushrooms - slice
5. olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
6. green pesto sauce - I use ready made Tesco house brand or Sacla   
7. parmesan cheese - grated. (can skip this if u don't have) 

method

• tip pasta in salted boiling water and cook according to packet, drain pasta.
• add broccoli into salted boiling water, cook for 4 minutes or till soft.
• drain & mash broccoli with fork. add pesto sauce to broccoli.
• Stir in the broccoli pesto into pasta, squeeze over the juice of 1⁄2 lemon.
• Pour in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon in the grated Parmesan, toss the pasta well and serve.

note : if you cant get ready made pesto sauce, u can make it from scratch.

ingredients :

1. 50g pine nuts (can get this from cold storage)
2. large bunch of basil  (u can skip this if u r making broccoli pesto - substitute basil with broccoli))
3. 50g parmesan
4. 150ml olive oil 
5. 2 garlic

Heat a small frying pan over a low heat. Cook the pine nuts until golden, shaking occasionally. Put into a food processor with the remaining ingredients and process until smooth, then season.
Pour the pesto into a jar and cover with a little extra oil, then seal and store in the fridge. It will keep in a fridge for up to two weeks.

CREAMY CHEESE &  SMOKED SALMON/SEAFOOD   PASTA

 

 

ingredients

1. pasta - tagliatelli or spaghetti
2. cream cheese - I used Philadelphia garlic & herb
3. smoked salmon - thinly sliced. (can substitute with fresh prawns)
4. button mushrooms - sliced
5. butter
6. olive oil

method :

• tip pasta in salted boiling water and cook according to packet, drain pasta.
• in a pot, melt butter, sauté sliced mushrooms, add in cream cheese and stir gently until cheese has melted.
• add in sliced smoked salmon/fresh prawns.
• stir in boiled pasta, pour in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• toss the pasta well and serve.

if you cant get ready made cream cheese, all you need is cheddar cheese - grate and small tub of single cream.

Jeruk mempelam

One of the things we miss over here is Jeruk Assam. You can find some at the shop but the choices are limited. Tried to make some last week. The best taste was after one week of 'Jeruking'.

Ingredients
Mempelam - sliced (you can leave the skin on)
Lots of sugar
A bit of salt
A bit of white vinegar

Place in container in the fridge. Stir every so often so that it's mixed properly. Taste and add sugar as necessary. After one week, enjoy.

Che' Nik Sah's bread & butter pudding

i know.. i have been neglecting this blog but i have not been baking/cooking anything out of the ordinary for so long, since we moved to this pad at xmas time.

this week i've got a bit of time to myself, after the hectic marking session; before i start working on my dissertation.

i watched Nigella making this b&b pudding on telly few days ago. it was a re-run. she called it Grandma's Bread Butter Pudding, must be her granny's recipe. when my cousin Nik Dy asked me what is her grandma's name, i said i will have to check but i know my grandma's name is Nik Sah Nik Kar. org dulu2 always associate the wife/husband's name with her/his spouse. since i made a few alteration to her original recipe, i shall now call this Che' Nik Sah's Bread & Butter Pudding.

the original recipe with some substitutions in brackets

Ingredients

• 
• 

• 75g unsalted butter
• 75g sultanas
• 3 tablespoons dark rum (i used orange cordial)
• 10 slices brown bread approx. (i used white bread, few days old bread will do wonders!)
• 10 x 15ml tablespoons ginger conserve or marmalade (my kids dont like marmalade, so i substituted with strawberry & blackcurrent jam)
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 500ml double cream
• 200ml full-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (i skipped this)
• 2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Method

Serves: 6

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Grease a pudding dish with a capacity of about 1½ litres with some of the butter.
3. Put the sultanas in a small bowl, pour the rum over, and microwave them for 1 minute, then leave them to stand. This is a good way to soak them quickly but juicily.
4. Make sandwiches with the brown bread, butter and ginger jam (2 tablespoonfuls in each sandwich); you should have some butter left over to smear on the top later.
5. Now cut the sandwiches in half into triangles and arrange them evenly along the middle of the pudding dish. I put one in the dish with the point of the sandwich upwards then one with flat-side uppermost, then with point-side uppermost and so on, then squeeze a sandwich-triangle down each side - but you do as you please. Sprinkle over the sultanas and unabsorbed rum that remains in the bowl.
6. Whisk the egg yolks and egg together with the caster sugar, and pour in the cream and milk. Pour this over the triangles of bread and leave them to soak up the liquid for about 10 minutes, by which time the pudding is ready to go into the oven. Smear the bread crusts that are poking out of the custard with the soft butter, mix the ground ginger and demerara sugar together and sprinkle this mixture on your buttered crusts and then lightly over the rest of the pudding.
7. Sit the pudding dish on a baking sheet and put it in the oven to cook for about 45 minutes or until the custard has set and puffed up slightly. Remove, let sit for 10 minutes - and spoon out into bowls, putting a jug of custard, should you so wish, on the table to be served alongside.

i didnt make any custard sauce.. but even so, the pudding is nice eaten on its own. tak sempat nak makan  after dinner dah habis separuh!