Chicken in Yogurt Curry

This is an extremely easy dish. I modified a recipe I found in a magazine and it turned out pretty well. The dish has a spicy and sourish tastes to it, great to be eaten with flavoured rice or flatbread.

Ingredients
4-5 chicken pieces (about half chicken)
1 medium onion
5 shallots
3 clove garlic
2 heapful tbsp dried chilli paste
7 large fresh red chilli, de-seeded
2.5 cm tumeric
2 heapful tbsp yogurt
1 1/2 heapful tbsp garam masala
1 sprig curry leave
water
salt to taste
3 tbsp oil

Method
1. Grind onion, garlic, shallots, tumeric and fresh chilli into paste
2. Heat oil in pot and fry dried chilli paste till oil separates
3. Add paste from 1 and stir fry till fragrant
4. Add curry leave and stir for 2 mins
5. Add yogurt, garam masala and chicken pieces and let chicken pieces cook for about 5mis
6. Add water and let it simmer till chicken are fully cooked and gravy thicken
7. Add salt to taste and serve hot with rice or bread

Banana Fritters (Pisang Goreng)

This is best eaten when it is hot. Must thank curryman from M4M for sharing this batter recipe. Best is to use pisang raja .. yums

The texture of this batter is light and crispy, very much like tempura.

Ingredients
100g bread flour
50g rice flour
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ammonia
1 - 1 1/2 cup water
bananas/sweet potato/tapioca
oil for frying

Method
1. Whisk all the above till batter is custardly consistency and set aside for 30mins
2. Dip bananas/sweet potato/tapioca into batter and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown
3. Serve warm with sambal belachan

Steamed Rice with Salmon Topping

I must thank jingle26 for introducing me to this dish. It is very easy to make but very satisfying especially for those who like one-dish meal without the fuss. I would say that this is a very versatile dish, you can put whatever toppings that you like. The best is to steam the rice in a steamer because the rice will be soft. A short cut way is to cook the rice using rice cooker or microwave, then put the rice in a claypot bowl, add the cooked topping and steam in a steamer for about 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients
1 cup rice, washed and drained
1 cup hot water
150g-200g salmon fillet, cut into bite size
1 bunch green vege, your choice of vege
1 salted egg, cooked and mashed
4 tbsp sambal oelek (I used woh hup brand)
2 tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Put washed rice and hot water in a stainless bowl and steam it for about 10-15mins
2. At the same time, heat oil in wok
3. Add fish pieces and stir fry it till cooked
4. Take fish pieces out and put aside
5. Add sambal oelek to the wok and stir
6. Add vege and stir fry till cooked, then add fish pieces
7. Mix till well blend
8. Put the fish and vege and mashed salted egg onto the cooked rice
9. Put back to the steamer and steam for further 5mins, turn fire off and leave the rice in the steamer for further 5mins before serving

Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice)

Missed the nasi goreng that my mom used to make for us when we were young. Fortunately, I have about a pack of leftover rice in the fridge waiting to be used *grin* This time round I went manual, used my pestle and mortar .. heh I simply love biting the small bits of onions, anchovies, chili together with the fried rice.

The freshly pounded ingredients

The final product

Ingredients
1 large onion
2 medium garlic
5 fresh red chilli, de-seeded
1 1/2 tbsp ikan bilis, soaked
1 1/2 cm belacan (prawn paste)
1 tsp salt to taste
3-4 cups cooked rice
1 egg beaten
3 tbsp oil


Method
1. Using pestle and mortar, pounded onion, garlic, chilli, salt, ikan bilis and belacan till fine
2. Heat wok with oil and stir fry pounded ingredients till fragrant
3. Add rice, stir till well combined
4. Push rice aside, pour beatened egg
5. Once egg slight cooked, scramble it and mix it with the rice
6. Continue stirring rice but without breaking it till well cooke
7. Serve hot with fish crackers and sunny side up egg

Gulai Nenas Ikan Pari (Pineapple Sour & Spicy Gravy with Stingray)

Pineapple is one of my favourite food, I use it to make salad, eat it on it's own, topping for pizza and add it to gravy. This is local malay dish and it is one of favourite. Simply delicious to be eaten with hot steamed rice. I used stingray fillet for this but you can use any of your favourite fish.

This is generally a basic recipe. There are many vesions of it. Some people like to add crushed blackpepper, salted vegetables and other local herbs.

Ingredients
Grind the following
2 tbsp oil
10 dried chillies, soaked
1 piece belacan, about 2x2 cm
1 medium onion or 8 shallots
2 cm fresh tumeric

1 lemon grass, bruised
1.5 cm galangal (lengkuas/blue ginger), bruised
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 almost ripe pineapple
handlful of laksa leaves (daun kesum)
2 cups water
1 heapful tsp tamarind, mixed with 1/2 tea cup water to extract juice
4 small pieces stingray(ikan pari) or spanish mackerel

Method
1. Heat oil in a pot ad fry found ingredients, lemongrass and galangal till fragrant
2. Add salt, sugar, pineapple and water
3. Cover pot and boil for about 3-5 minutes
4. Add tamarind juice, fish pieces and laksa leaves cover and boil for a few minutes over low heat 5. Remove from heat once fish is cooked
6. Serve with hot steamed rice

Asparagus & Shrimp in Oyster Sauce

Inspired by a dish I had at Sakura Thai-Chinese Cuisine, made a simple version using Thai asparagus. I prefer a slimmer asparagus and the ones from Thai is the best to me at least. You can get it easily at NTUC and for this recipe, I just need to use 1 pack 8-)

Ingredients
1 pack Thai asparagus, clean and cut into half
200g grey prawns, deveined and marinate with sugar
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cm ginger, chopped (can replace with 1/2tsp ginger powder)
2 tbsp oyster sauce, dilute with 1 tbsp water
3 tbsp oil

Method
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok and stir fry the prawns till they turned pink
2. Once the prawns are cooked, take it out and put aside
3. Add 1 tbsp oil, throw in garlic and ginger till fragrant
4. Add asparagus and oyster sauce, stir till well mixed
5. Add a bit of water if it gets too dry, then add the cooked prawns
6. Stir till asparagus is cooked
7. Serve hot with steamed rice

Beansprouts with Salted Fish

I love beansprouts and I can eat it either raw or cooked. I have been thinking about this dish for a while but didn't have the opportunity to cook it until recently. This dish is great with hot steaming rice *yums*

For this recipe, I used ikan bilis stock granules (No added MSG) since I was a little bit lazy .. heh

Ingredients
150-250g rootless beansprouts
1 stalk chives, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1-2 tsp ikan bilis stock granules or you can use anchovies
thumbsize kurau salted fish, soaked and cut into small pieces
2 tbsp oil

Method
1. Heat oil in wok and throw in sliced onion
2. Add chopped garlic once onions turned translucent
3. Add ikan bilis stock and stir till it is well blended
4. Add salted fish, stir fry till fragrant
5. Add beansprouts and chives and stir fry till cooked
6. Best eaten hot with steamed rice