Green pancakes

Here is a simple pancake using herbs available around the house:
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of water (add 1 tablespoon if too thick)
chopped chives, spring onion, thyme and mint
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon mrs. dash original blend (optional) olive oil for cooking

Method: Mix everything into a pancake batter consistency. Not too thick and nor too thin. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pour the batter and make a nice thin layer of pancake. Flip to the other side. Serve warm.

Fried Rice Stick Noodle

 Today’s Saturday morning breakfast was not pancakes like usual but this one of my favorite Asian dishes called “Mee hoon goreng” aka fried glazed noodle. This food is very light and delicious to eat with some cucumbers, celery and steamed carrot. The recipe is very simple and easy to cook.

Firstly, soak the glazed rice stick noodle in hot water. You can buy this rice stick noodle from the Asian store or from Giant or WEIS market.
Heat about ½ cup of olive oil in a big pot or wok or pan, I am using a big pot.
Sautee some chopped onion, chopped celery, chopped carrot.
Add a pinch of salt, and a pinch of Italian seasoning.
Add a cup of minced beef. (You can use chicken or turkey as well).
Stir well until beef are cooked. Then add the tossed noodle.
Add 2 tablespoons of hot sauce.
Add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce.
Add ½ cup of water.
Mix them well on medium low heat.
Cook for about 10 minutes or until the noodles cooked.
Serve warm with some cucumber, celery or carrot to the side.  

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Donut

Krispy Kreme donut is one of my favorite donut. This morning, I woke up and was thinking of making a donut. Usually, on Saturday morning, Mr. Big and I have an adult breakfast like eggs, sausage, pancake or home fries. This Saturday morning, was unusual...

I apologize for the irregular shapes and sizes of these donuts. I did not use any donut cutter or mould. I simply make a hole using my finger and smooth it a little bit before I fry them. They are delicious despite the shapes and sizes!

Ingredients: For the donut
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of instant dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/4 cups of warm  water
4 cups of cooking oil

For the glazed:
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method: Donut
In a big bowl, add flour, salt and instant yeast. Mix well.
Let it sit for 1 minute.
Add water. Knead into slightly sticky dough.
Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Knead again. By this time the dough is very soft.
Add some flour to the surface of a board.
you can use donut cutter or in my case, I just cut the dough into equal sizes.
Punch a hole in the center with my finger and smooth the sides.
Using a small pot, heat about one inch of olive oil on medium low.
Fry the donut one at a time. Depending on the size of the pot you use to fry the donut, you may be able to fry 2 or 3 donuts at one time.
Turn to the other side as soon as one side turned brown.
Let it cool on paper towel.

Method: Glazed
In a small bowl, mix sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk until smooth.
Dip each donut in the glaze.
Place back the donut on the wire rack to allow excess glaze to drip off.

Mr. Big had a bite of the donut and did not say anything. After he finished 3 donuts then he said, so you think I am a small kid who needs sugary food for breakfast?
I smiled...

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Pineapple Angel Cake

Easy peasy this is. I just need a box of angel food cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple.The cake came out beautiful, light and delicious!

The ingredients are an angel cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple in it's juice.

Mix both of these ingredients. It will become frothy and easy to assemble. I am using a 9 by 13 inch pan.

Heat the oven at 350 degree F. Bake it for about 30 minutes.

The cake taste sweet, and had a texture that is very easy to handle and almost like a very light bread. Superb!
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Cucur Badak

Cucur Badak is one of my favorite afternoon tea time snack. Last week, I cooked Serunding Kelapa. I am using the same serunding kelapa (savory coconut flakes) for the filling in this cucur badak. To make this cucur badak is super easy but a little bit sticky to handle.
I am using a can of yam. Drained.
Add 2 cups of all purpose flour and a pinch of salt.
Mix well to form a soft dough.

Flour your hand. Take a small ball of the dough and flatten it. Add a teaspoon of the savory coconut flakes in the center. Fold and cover.
This yield about 10 pieces of cucur badak.
Heat pan with about 1 cup of olive oil.
Pan fry on both sides until golden brown.
Delicious!
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Before Sunrise Meal - Sahur

Sahur or early morning breakfast is taken before the sunrise in the month of Ramadan. I try to eat well balance food during this year's Ramadan. I will drink a glass of soy milk. Silk brand has soy milk mix with fruits. They are tasty. I have tried their soy milk with Mango and soy milk with berries. The next time I am going to try the soy milk with strawberry and banana. The soy milk provide the protein I need to go through  the fasting day where I cannot eat or drink until sundown.

In the above picture, I have fresh strawberries, cake squares and dates for my breakfast. I also had a cup of chick peas or garbanzo beans to go with this meal.

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Serunding Kelapa - Spiced Coconut Flakes

Serunding kelapa also known as Spiced Coconut Flakes is one of my favorite food. I like to cook it with simple ingredients.  For my breaking fast dinner tonight, it would be this serunding kelapa with glutinous rice.

Ingredients:

1 bag of sweetened coconut flakes (14 oz./396gm)

1 medium size of sweet onion 

1 tablespoon of chopped garlic

1 tablespoon of red chili powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 teaspoon of coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon of clove powder

1 tablespoon of chopped lemongrass

1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 small packet of dried shrimp

5 pieces kaffir lime leaf

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method:
In a bowl, grate the onion.
Add all the spices and garlic. Combine.
Add sliced kaffir lime leaf (daun limau purut).
Mix well.
In a big skillet, heat olive oil.
Fry the paste until fragrant.
Add chopped dried shrimps.
Add coconut flakes.
Mix well and cook for 10 minutes.

I serve this savory dish with cooked glutinous rice. To cook the glutinous rice is to mix the water and the coconut milk. Use the same measurement of the rice and the water plus coconut milk. I cooked  2 cups glutinous rice with 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1 1/2 cup water. Add a pinch of salt.

Enjoy!
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Ramadan 29 - Last Breakfast Nasi Lemak

The last sahur or early morning breakfast for this year's ramadan meal was nasi lemak. Nasi lemak is a rice cooked in coconut milk and ginger. The side dishes for today's nasi lemak are spicy anchovies sambal, spicy squid sambal, hard boiled eggs, fried peanuts, fried anchovies, fried chicken, cucumber,  and petai.
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When in China...

We have to eat the chinese food. They are not spicy yet not too bland.

Warm Yam or sweet potatoes are sold everywhere.

The pineapples look yummy!

The popular drink...hot tea...

Simple yet tasty stir vegetables. They are mixture of cucumbers, mushrooms and carrots

Aha! Gotta try this congee or rice porridge. I love the sweet and salty pickled radish.

This noodle soup was so simple. It was just spinach and cabbage in a soy sauce broth.

Seafood noodle soup with herbal egg.

Bak Choy...

Never say never...

Every morning we were being entertained by this tai chi group at breakfast.

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Kuih Bom

Growing up, kuih bom is one of my favorite kuih. This kuih can be served for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. It goes well with a cup of milk, hot tea or hot coffee. This kuih has been improvised over the years and many recipes are created for the chewy and flavorful kuih bom. This morning, I decided to cook a simple and authentic my mom’s way of cooking this kuih.

Ingredients:
2 cups glutinous rice flour
½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Sesame seeds
Olive oil to fry

Ingredients for the filling:
2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
1 cup brown sugar
1 pandanus leaf
1 cup water

Cook the coconut filling by combining all the ingredients until coconut flakes soften. Remove the pandan leaf.
Set aside to cool.

For the dough, add flour, sugar and salt.
Then add water little by little until dough is formed.
Take a piece of the dough. Flatten it with your hand.
Set a small amount of filling in the center and fold.
Cover the dough with sesame seeds.
Set aside.
Continue making the kuih bom with the rest of the dough and filling.
Heat olive oil at 400 degree F.
Fry the kuih bom until golden brown.


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Apple Crisp

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. What happen if the apple is cook in the oven with lots of sweetness and butter. Hope it will still keeps the doctor away.

Ingredients:

3 big red apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup of light brown sugar (pack it tightly)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oats
Half a stick salted butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Peel, core and cut the apples into slices.
In a bowl, add the apples and lemon juice.
Then add the brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
In another bowl mix the flour, sugar, and oats.
Mix the flour and butter until it looks crumbly.
Add the chopped nuts.
Grease a 6 in. round baking dish.
Spread the apple mixture on the bottom of the dish.
Top it with the flour mix.
Cook for 30 - 45 minutes at 375 degree F or until the apples are soft and topping is browned slightly.
Serve it warm or at room temperature.
This dessert is very sweet. Cut down on the brown sugar and sugar as you like. I am using McIntosh apples.
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Guava Puff Pastries

I have sweet tooth and today I decided to deep fry guava paste puff pastries.
The ingredients are simple:
10 pieces/discs large empanadas skin
1 box 21 oz. guava paste
1 box of 227g or 8 oz. cream cheese
olive oil to fry

Method
Divide cream cheese into 10 parts.
Divide guava paste into 10 parts.
Take 1 piece of cream cheese and 1 piece of the guava paste to the center of the empanadas skin.
Bring each end together and crimp the side of the skin.
Do the same for the rest of the empanadas skin.
Fry in olive oil until golden brown.
Serve warm or cold.

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Roti Canai and Shrimp Curry

The left over shrimp curry will be perfect as side dish for roti canai. The flavor of the curry is intensified over the night. I bought this roti canai from the the Asian store here. I like the roti canai pan fried with a tablespoon of butter.
I also scrambled an egg to go with this meal.
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Shrimp Kue Teow and Hot Cherry Peppers

Fall is the time to stock up on fruits like apples or vegetables like winter squash and peppers. I went to the farmer's market and found this beautiful hot cherry peppers. It cost me just $7 for a big box. I use plastic gloves to handle these peppers otherwise my hands will be "pijar" as said in bahasa melayu or in english means burns from hot peppers. I can get a buck for a bag of 50 disposable plastic hand gloves t dollar store.

Above is a blended hot cherry peppers cooked in olive oil, onion, garlic, shrimp paste(belacan) and ginger. The cherry peppers are cleaned and seeded. I don't think I can stand the super heat taste from these peppers. What I like about this pepper is that it will give volume to my cooking. I do not need to add tomato as tomato will set different taste to the dish. I pack the rest of the cherry peppers, whole, in a gallon size zip lock plastic bag. They can last throughout winter.

One of the dishes I use this cherry peppers mixture is in the fried kue teow. One of my good friend invited me to her house today. We cooked fried shrimp kue teow. Her kuali is huge and super heavy. And it cooked the kue teow well.

This hot cherry pepper is the secret to my cooking. There are other peppers I like such as the cili padi (bird eye chili) mix with poblano peppers. They both give the same heat and flavor to the dish.

Buttercup Squash is sold at a good deal too. They gave me 20 buttercup squashes for $10. I cannot get that price at the store.

My style to enjoy this squash is simple. I just bake them in the oven at 420 degree F for about 40 minutes. I can add brown sugar to the meal or add salt and pepper for savory flavor.

While shopping at the asian store for the kuchai and taugeh to go with the fried kue teow, I found this kedondong as in bahasa melayu or Spondias dulcis or Ambarella in english. This kedondong is fresh and delicious.
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Shrimp Curry and Paratha

I was at giant, a grocery store to buy some fresh fish and my favorite seaweed salad when I saw a sale buy one get one free of variety ready to cook meal. one of the meal on sale was paratha and shrimp curry in a bag. I look at the packet and was tempted to buy them but then I said to myself, why should I buy the ready to cook meal if I can cook it at home. I have lots of frozen paratha/parotha or roti canai and I have all the ingredients to cook the shrimp curry. So, I put the bag down and walk away.

Ingredients:
1 lb medium size shrimp (devein and cleaned)
4 jalapeno (hot chili)
3 russet potato
1 large yellow onion
8 cloves garlic
Curry mix ( 6 tablespoon fish curry powder, 1 tablespoon powdered ginger, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp powdered cloves, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp powdered white pepper, 1 tsp powdered galangal, 1 tsp powdered lemongrass) add 1/2 cup water to make a paste.
3 tbs olive oil to fry onion and garlic.
3 pieces kaffir lime leaves
4 pieces curry leaf
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Fresh Cilantro