Rendang Chicken

Look at this beautiful and flavorful dish, it is called Rendang Chicken ** (see extracts from Wikipedia). This is my version of Rendang Chicken aka dried spicy chicken with fried grated coconut. There are many versions of recipe for preparing Rendang and as long as the key ingredients are used I believe it would taste just as good the homecook way, sure we cannot beat the ones served commercially.

A friend of mine onced shared with me that the Rendang Beef sold at the Nasi Kandar stalls are cooked over those balanced and kept for days...no wonder it taste so good! hahaha....

Rendang Chicken dish is a little spicy and creamy to taste with a beautiful aroma from the kaffir leaves (daun limau perut), lemon grass (serai) and fresh turmeric (kunyit) plus coconut milk and a good blend of fried grated coconut to make it complete.

Extracts from Wikipedia :

Rendang is made from beef (or occasionally chicken, mutton) slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, allowing the meat to absorb the spicy condiments. The cooking process changes from boiling to frying as the liquid evaporates. The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender.

Look at those herbs n ingredients that were used for this dish :

All you need : for 1/2 chicken

• 10 shallots
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 pcs of lemon grass (serai)
• 1 thumbsize turmeric (kunyit)
• 5 pcs red chilli
• Blend all the above together to form a paste
• some kaffir lime leaves (daun limau perut) ** a must!
• 1 box coconut milk 200 gms
• 1/2 grated coconut - fried it till golden brown (kerisik)

** I have omitted galangal (lengkuas) to prevent it from "overshadowing" the beautiful aroma of lemon grass, kaffir leaves and tumeric

Simple Process

1. Heat the wok with some oil and saute the grounded paste till fragrant
2. Add in the chicken and mix well with the grounded paste, add kaffir lime leaves
3. Add the 1 box coconut milk and let it simmer over low heat for next 30 minutes
4. Allow the meat to slowly absorbed the coconut milk and its ingredients
5. Keep stirring and when gravy starts to evaporate, add in the fried grated coconut and give it a good coat all over
6. Ready to serve with steamed rice

Have a Happy and Enjoyable Meal....

Omelette Bittergourd

A tasty vegetable dish and quick to prepare - Omelette Bittergourd. Most of the time, the kids tried to avoid eating bittergourd but since this Omelette Bittergourd was introduced years back by my mum, they would once a while put up their request to mummy...marvellous, at least we can all eat it together and happily... My hubby and I loves bittergourd, to know more of the wonders of bittergourd , just click the link. The tips my mum gave was inorder to avoid choosing the very bitter ones, tried picking those with wide line width on the surface of the vegetable and rub it well with salt and rinse before cooking.

So Simple, Beaten eggs and thin slices of bittergourd makes a great dish

All you need :

• 1 small bittergourd - cut into thin slices
• 4 beaten eggs
• rub salt onto the cut slices of bittergourd and rinse to reduce the bitterness

Simple Process :

• Heat a little oil in the pan and stir fry the bittergourd for 3 mins


• Drop the stir fried bittergourd into the bowl of beaten eggs, mix it up


• Next, using the same pan, drop a portion of the mixture filling the pan


• Let it cook till golden brown and slowly turn it over the other side


• Dish it out once both sides are golden brown

Ready to Enjoy...a healthy plate of Omelette Bittergourd

Fried Turmeric Meat

This is one of my favourite dish since young and I really really like the wonderful flavour of this dish, it is fried meat marinated with fresh turmeric or kunyit, it is very aromatic and the smell whets your appetite. Since young, we have been guided that taking fresh turmeric keeps our body healthy by my grandma and at present moment I have managed to share with my family the joy of having a healthy dish make from fresh turmeric. This beautiful root has great medicinal values in it and check this out yourself what this magical turmeric can provide for your body...believe it or not, see it for yourself!

I love this dish as it very simple and easy to prepare, minus the frying part, of course...hahaha. It is simple because I just need to marinate the meat and refrigerate and start frying when it is time to cook... that's it!

All you need :

• some lean meat (pork or chicken) - cut into small pieces


• 2 thumbsize fresh turmeric (kunyit) - pound finely


• 2 stalks of lemon grass - use only the bottom portion (cut into slices and pound finely)


• salt and sugar to taste

Simple Process :

1. Marinate the meat with the pounded turmeric and lemon grass, salt, sugar for 2 hours or more


2. Heat a non stick pan with a little oil and pan-fried it till golden brown


3. Ready to Serve. Goes well with steamed rice

Have a Healthy Meal..

Sour Pork Ribs

Wow...hohoho...look at that...here goes a simple and easy to prepare 1 set meal for the family. I had this Sour Pork Ribs cooked and served as 1 simple set meal..the aroma of the garlic and ginger is irresistible, and of course the sour flavour brings thrill to the palate. Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner, it taste so good and yummy, it's totally complete with garlic fried vege and steam rice... Alternatively, I do use this easy to cook recipe for chicken too. As again chicken gets tender very fast, so just reduce the simmering time to get a "just right" tenderness of the meat.

See the beautiful color of the cooked sour pork ribs, complement with garlic fried green baby bok choy. Delicious looking :))


All you need : Serve 4

• 2 pork ribs - chopped into small pieces


• 2 clove garlic - chopped


• 2 thumbsize young ginger - chopped


• 1 Tbs chilly paste - add more if you want it extra spicy


• 2 Tbs tomato sauce


• 1 Tbs tamarind paste


• 1 Tbs cornflour
• salt to taste
  

Simple Process :

1. Boil a pot of water and add in the pork ribs, give it a quick boil and dish out, set aside


2. Heat the wok with some oil, saute the chopped ginger, garlic, chilly paste till fragrant, add in the pork ribs, stir to mix well


3. Add 1 cup of water, 1 Tbs tamarind paste, 2 Tbs tomato sauce and simmer over low heat for the next 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burnt *


4. When meat has soften and cooked, add the cornflour to thicken the gravy


5. Ready to Serve...

** Tomato sauce is an extra ingredient here

Have a Happy Meal with your family...

Kerabu Cucumber - Salad Cucumber

Wow, look at this beautiful appealing color kerabu or salad. Well as all of us is aware, eating uncooked vegetables are good to our little body and it is fun to add varieties to the way we prepare the greens. This is a typical Nyonya dish and it is called Kerabu Timbun or Salad Cucumber.

As again, no cooking is required and it is just mixing all the required ingredients together and that's it..perfectly yummy for those who loves spicy and sour stuff. It can be an appetizer or as a dish to eat with steamed rice.

There are varieties of choices where we can make as Kerabu or Nyonya Salad , just click the link to see more.

No cooking is required here, just a good mix of sambal belacan (pounded chilly with roasted shrimp paste), lime juice, roasted dried prawns and slices of shallots. Here are the ingredients required and the process is simply "Mixing the cut cucumber in it".... Voila!

Be Happy and Enjoy a Healthy Meal

Chicken with BitterGourd

Look at this yummy Chicken BitterGourd in Black SoyBeans which I have prepared for my family. :) they enjoyed it! It is a delicious savoury dish with thick yummy gravy to go with steamed rice.

BitterGourd has great nutritional values. My mum used to make bittergourd n celery juice for mantainence of good health. Bittergourd as the name suggest, it sure has a bitter taste, my mum's advice was to choose those bittergourd with broad width lines on the surface and that should taste just good.

All you need :

1. 1/2 chicken or 2 pc chicken breast meat - chop into pieces


2. 1 med size bittergourd - cut into slant pieces


3. 6 pips garlic - chopped


4. 2 Tbs fermented black soy beans


5. 1 Tbs fermented soy beans


6. 1 Tbs cornflour * mix with 1 Tbs water

Simple Process :

1. Marinate the chicken with dark soy sauce for 30 mins before cooking


2. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped garlic, fermented black soybeans and fermented soy beans together over med heat


3. Add in the chicken and stir well, add in the pieces of bitter gourd together with a little water (3 - 4 Tablespoonful) and allow it to simmer over low heat. The chicken will release some water during the process of cooking.


4. Allow the chicken and bittergourd to simmer slowly till chicken is cooked or till gravy has more or less thicken


5. Lastly, add the cornflour before dishing it out.

Have a Happy Meal!

Steamed Meat Toufu

Toufu or soft beancurd is a good healthy food and we all love toufu especially those from Ipoh town, Perak. It is so soft and smooth..simply taste great! Infact it is the most simple, fast and easy to prepare dish to serve with steamed rice. All you need to do is pre-heat the steamer, steam the toufu for 5 mins and drain excess water from the plate and just spread the cooked minced meat and dried shrimps on top of the steamed toufu and that's it...Voila!

All you need :

• a piece of toufu
• 1 piece of breast meat - minced
• handful of dried shrimps
• 1 big onion - chopped
• 1 sprig of spring onion - for garnishing
• 1 Tbs cornflour
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
• pepper to taste
  
  

Simple Process :

1. Pre-steam the toufu for 5 mins and drain excess water

2. Heat the pan with a little oil, saute the chopped onion till fragnant, add the dried shrimps and minced meat, stir well

3. Add 1 Tbs of dark soy sauce, pepper, a little water and allow it to simmer over low heat till meat is cooked

4. To thicken the gravy, add in 1 Tbs cornflour and stir well

5. Spread the cooked minced meat on top of the toufu, garnish with chopped spring onion

Have a Happy Meal ^ _ ^

Tom Yam Soup

Well there are days when we just feel like going for some nice sour flavor to excite our palate and the first thing I thought of is Tom Yam.....yummy! I prefer home cook Tom Yam as I can determine the level of sour n spicy flavor to suit our family taste. The one found in the restaurants are just too sour for us and gives a bad effect for our stomach. I love the beautiful aroma of the lime peel and lemon grass in the soup, it is truly refreshing. This is a simple and easy way to prepare Tom Yam Soup at my kitchen....

Besides enjoying just the Tom Yam Soup, I have also served it with vermicelli. Just add the blanched vermicelli into the Tom Yam Soup and you have a one complete meal - Tom Yam Vermicelli Soup....

The Main Important ingredients that you MUST have is just right below. I just use 4 Tbs of the Tom Yam Paste to 2 litre of water. Add 3 sticks of Lemon grass (serai) and some Lime Peel as an alternate as I dont have the Lime leaves (daun limau perut). Add extra 1 Tbs of Tom Yam Paste if you wish to have a more sour flavor

The add on ingredients to the soup are : some Prawns, Fish Balls, Chinese Cabbage, Tomatoes, Onions, Straw Mushrooms, Abalone Mushrooms, fresh baby corns. The amount to use is up to your preference.

Simple Process : Serve 5

1. Boil 2 litre of water in a pot. Add in the lemon grass, lime peel and tom yam paste and boil over medium heat for 15 minutes.


2. Add in the cut chinese cabbage, cut onions and allow it to simmer till chinese cabbage has slightly soften


3. Add in the rest of the ingredients, salt to taste and let it simmer for the next 15 minutes


4. Here you are.........Ready to Serve
   

Enjoy an Appetizing Meal!

Yummy 1 Set Meal

I enjoy preparing a "1 set meal" especially on a busy day or should I say on lazy days...hahaha. I have this delicious meat recipe cooked with straw mushrooms, spring onions, young ginger and a good blend of oyster sauce to go with steamed rice. You can use pork ribs or chicken meat for this simple to prepare dish. The young ginger and spring onions gives a wonderful fragance to this dish. For this meal I have used pork ribs instead.

All you need :

Chicken Breast Meat or Pork Ribs

1 can straw mushroom - slice into half

2 sprig of spring onions - cut into 3 cm length

1 big piece of young ginger - cut into slices

4 pips of garlic - chopped

3 Tbs Oyster sauce

1 Tbs cornflour

Simple Process :

1. Heat a little oil in a wok, saute the chopped garlic and young ginger slices
2. Add the meat, some water and the oyster sauce, stir well and simmer at low heat for next 20 mins * for pork ribs, let it simmer for 40 mins
3. Add in the straw mushrooms and spring onion, stir to mix well, let it simmer for next 5 mins, and to thicken the gravy, just add the cornstarch and bring to boil
4. Ready to Serve with steamed rice
5. Optional : 1 Tbs of rice wine to be added before serving
   
   

A Simple 1 Set Meal for the Family...enjoy your Meal!

Sweet Sour Seaweed Beancurd

I got this packet of seaweed beancurd from a vegetarian shop and it's labelled as Vegetarian Fish.. My kids love seaweed and thought this seaweed beancurd would excite their appetite when served... yeah, it does! They love it very much especially the yummy sweet sour flavour sauce to go with steamed rice... It is simple and easy to prepare as compared to frying the "real fish"...honestly I dislike the after effect of deep frying.... :))

Lightly Fried Seaweed Beancurd

All you need :

• 1 packet of seaweed beancurd
• 1 tomato - cut into wedges
• 1 japanese cucumber - cut into wedges
• 1 big onion - cut into wedges
• 2 Tbs tomato sauce
• 1 Tbs plum sauce

Simple Process :

1. Lightly fried the beancurd base till golden brown and set aside


2. Heat a little oil and saute the onion till aromatic, add a little water, drop in the sauces


3. Bring it to boil, add in the cut japanese cucumber and tomato and pour sauce over the fried seaweed beancurd


4. Serve immediately

**Tip : You may prepare the sauce and set aside, only pour the sauce over the fried seaweed beancurd when you are ready to serve

Have a Happy n Healthy Meal

Chicken with Water-chestnut

Beautiful sweet colored non spicy chicken which has lots of nice crunchy water chestnut (ma-tai) in it. Water chestnuts are crunchy and sweet in flavour. This savoury chicken dish goes well with steamed rice and it is very simple and easy to cook. The drained chicken were marinated for about an hour before cooking. The seasoning are simply made up of light soy sauce, fermented beancurd (tau ju), sesame oil, cooking wine, pepper, sugar, salt and some cornflour.

Water Chestnut, Chopped Spring Onions, Red Chilly

Extracts from the website : Water chestnuts - The knobby vegetable with the papery brown skin is a staple in Chinese cooking. The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes. Nutritionally, water chestnuts are a good source of potassium and fiber. They are low in sodium, and fat is virtually non-existent.

All you need :

• 2 pieces chicken breast meat - cut into pieces
• 10 water chestnut - cut into small pieces
• some chopped spring onions - for garnishing
• some red chilly - for garnishing
• 1 thumbsize ginger - chopped
• 4 pips garlic - chopped

Seasoning for the chicken : 1Tbs light soy sauce, 1 pc fermented beancurd (tau ju), 2 Tsp sesame oil, dash of cooking wine, dash of pepper, some sugar, salt and 1 Tbs cornflour

Simple Process :

1. Marinate the chicken with the seasoning for 1 hour before cooking


2. Heat the wok and saute the garlic, ginger till aromatic and add in the marinated chicken


3. Stir fry and add a little water, the water chestnut and simmer the chicken over low heat for the next 20 minutes or till gravy thickens. Do stir occasionally..


4. Garnish with chopped spring onions and red chilly

Have a Enjoyable Meal....

Vegetables n Salted Fish Curry

Vegetables n Salted Fish Curry or fondly called Kiam-Hu Kut Curry, was one of my grandma's authentic collections. Grandma was a great cook and so is my mum... I love this dish and do cook once in a blue moon for daddy and kids and they seem to love it too, especially to eat it with blanched beehoon aka vermicelli.....oh it taste so yummy! I have a slight modification on this dish - I use low fat milk instead of coconut milk and also "no gering rempah" (using the old fashion grinding stone to grind the chilly paste, oh no!).... :)).

Besides the vegetables, few pieces of salted fish bones are added to give an extra flavor and beautiful aroma to the vegetable curry. Shrimps are added to add extra natural sweetness to the curry.... WoW! words just cannot describe the taste, you need to cook it and enjoy this good bowl of curry with rice or simply eat it with beehoon.

Can you see the "salted fish bones" lying in the plates with some of the prawns in the photo? Ya...not healthy to consume often but once in a blue moon, I believe it is fine. To clear the excessive salt in the salted fish, it need to be soaked and wash for at least 3 times before cooking.

I have used 2 small packet of the fish curry powder mixed with 4 big onion (blended) to form a curry paste. On standby is a bottle of 450ml lowfat milk to add in after the curry paste is well sauted and turns fragrant. Just add on some water if you wish to have more gravy...which I did. The vegetables I have put in are some brinjals, long beans, ladies fingers, cabbage and taufo pok (fried soft beancurd).

Simple Process :

1. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the curry paste till fragant, add in some water followed by the bottle of milk.


2. Add in the salted fish bone, vegetables and let it simmer over slow fire for the next 20 mins till you can smell the beautiful aroma of the curry


3. Next add in the prawns and taufo pok and give a short boil, once prawns are cooked, it is ready to serve
   

Serve with warm rice or blanched vermicelli... it is Yummy!

Chicken with Fish Maw

A very tasty dish which consist of chicken, fish maw and chinese mushroom in oyster sauce. Another common way to cook fish maw is to make chicken soup with cabbage, carrot and chinese mushroom..wow, it is yummy!

In the olden chinese community, fish maw is considered a delicacies and normally served during Chinese Lunar Year or during special family occasion.

Here is to share a little about Fish Maw. The photo below is dried fish maw which has already been fried and it is the same which I used for my dish.

extracted from chinesefoodrecipe.com
Fish Maw plays the role of a texture ingredient like the sea cucumber in Chinese food, fish maw is actually the air bladder of large fish, the function of which is to regulate water and oxygen flow so that the fish can ascend or descend in the water. The price of fish maw is far from cheap and it's one of the luxury ingredients in Chinese cuisine.
Like a lot of ingredients in Chinese culinary traditions, the fish maw is also regarded as a nourishing tonic that helps blood circulation and beneficial to the general health.

All you need :

• 1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces
• 4 pcs of dried fish maw - soak well and blanched before use
• 8 pieces of chinese mushroom - soak well till soften
• some ginger slices
• 3 Tbs oyster sauce
• 1 Tbs cooking wine

Simple Process :

1. Soak for 2 hours the dried fish maw or till it soften, then blanch it in hot boiling water - set aside


2. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the ginger, add the chicken, chinese mushroom, add a little water and oyster sauce and allow it to simmer over low heat for next 15 mins


3. Add in the blanched fish maw, cooking wine and allow it to further simmer for another 10 mins


4. To thicken the gravy, add a little cornstarch and it is ready for serving
   

Enjoy a happy meal