Karipap inti sardin

Karipap sardin is one of my favorite food. I like it so much that I can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. However, I have to make sure I only eat 1 or 2 pieces in a day. This is because this delicacy is loaded with high cholesterol. At my age, having two active grandsons, I do need to watch my diet. In the past, I used to make the skin for this puff pastry from scratch. I use vegetable shortening, or butter, and knead the flour until soft. But now I have found the best puff pastry skin, ready to use empanadas made by Goya empanadas skin. The brand came in two sizes, small and large size. I like them both. It also has 2 types of flour, one is made from regular flour and the other is from corn flour. I have tried both. They both tasted good.

 

I like the puff pastry cook in deep fryer than bake in the oven. Any of these cooking method will give a nice flavor to the puff pastry.

As for the filling, my favorite is sardine in tomato sauce mix with carrots, onion, hot peppers and potatoes. Dice them small, remove the bone from the sardine and drain the sauce. Mr. Big doesn't like sardine, I have to use chicken or beef for the fillings for him.

Maryland Blue Crab

Ramadan is here. The first day of fasting in my area was on Saturday, May 27, 2017. It went well for me since I stayed at home and just entertaining my 2 grandchildren. They both are too young to understand what fasting is. I didn’t indulge on food for morning breakfast before the sunrise nor do I cook much for breaking fast. I ate my regular breakfast food like pancake and eggs. I drank milk to give the energy throughout the day. On the first day of Ramadan, I had rice with fried chicken and shrimp egg foo young I bought from the Chinese takeout. The second day of Ramadan, I was invited to my in laws for some crab feast. It was really nice eating with family. The dinner feast was for observing the Memorial Day on Monday.

My vegetable garden is doing very well. Soon, I will be getting salad from the garden. The rainy days we have been getting has helped. The peas are growing faster than anything else. I have started to see the white flowers on the plants. I am growing mostly the sugar snap peas. I do grow some little marvel peas as well as the snow peas. Couple of days ago, I put in more string bean seeds in the ground. If the soil temperature went up above 70 degree, the bean seeds will germinate faster. Otherwise, I will have to wait about 2 weeks to see some growth. I already planted a 30 foot row of string beans when the soil can be worked on.

Ramadan day 29

A delicious meal tonight from Ramadan buffet at a restaurant. I ate too much that I regret it. I have not been eating so much like this before. But it was all worth it because I have the family around me.

Ramadan day 27

My day and night are going to be upside down today. I had dinner at the airport, a simple baked fish with salad on the side. Share

Ramadan day 25

A simple meal for breaking fast today. A fried breaded shrimp. Share

Ramadan day 22

Tonight's dinner was fried fish. I was using the cod fish coated in fish fry flour. It was delicious. I added tomato ketchup as garnish. Delicious. Share

Ramadan day 20

A seafood day today. My meal for tonight's dinner was shrimp fried rice. It was a simple dish yet delicious.

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Ramadan day 15

Today's dinner was just rice with spicy sambal squid. A simple meal for me. Share

Ramadan day 12

Today's meal was some take out. My favorite is the shrimp egg foo young. It was a simple dish of shrimp cooked with bean sprouts, onion and eggs. Share

Ramadan day 8

Dinner tonight was a simple take out, shrimp egg foo young and fried chicken. I was so hungry and finish the meal in no time.

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Ramadan 2015 Day 14 - Fried Chicken and Shrimp Egg Foo Young

A special treat today. I had Chinese take out, shrimp egg foo young and fried chicken for dinner. They are super delicious.

 Shrimp egg foo young was made from shrimp mix with onion, bean sprouts and egg. The mixture is then fried in hot oil until golden brown. The shrimp egg foo young is then covered in brown gravy. Delicious!

The fried chicken was crispy and had been seasoned well. I could not ask for more. These dishes are tasty.

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Roselle Leaves with Shrimp

Last growing season, I planted the Roselle plant thinking that I can eat the fruits. The red calyces are the part of the plant that I was looking for. I could made tea or juice from the calyces. Some part of the world is using the red calyces as food coloring, syrup or jelly.

Unfortunately, the hot weather in my area was too short. I managed to harvest the leaves together with the deer on which ate the top part of the plants.

From my short research, the plant is said to have antihypertensive agent. Roselle is said as diuretic, mild laxative, and treatment for cardiac and nerve diseases and cancer.

 

I was at the Newark farmer’s market this morning and found bunches of the Roselle leaves. It cost only $1 for a bunch. The seller said I could just stir fry the leaves and add some shrimp in the dish. The Roselle leaves are sour in taste. It reminded me of tamarind. The taste was sour but in a good way. The dish add a zing to the rice.

To stir fry the leaves, my friend Gert used some cooking oil, slices of hot peppers, crushed garlic and shrimp.

 

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Fried Squid and Pear Pies

My sister, Anita treat me to these delicious food.

 We had this spicy fried squid at a restaurant in the airport. This squid was cooked to perfection. The dipping sauce was a sweet sauce that was really delicious.

These pear pies are cooked by the chef in the kitchen, David, my sister's husband. He loves to bake. The pies are really good.I really had a good time at Anita and David's house. One week was not enough to play with Daniella. She is adorable. Hop on to my other website to see her.

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Shrimp Alfredo Pasta

Honey and I are not a pasta eater. However, once in a while I do like to prepare pasta for our dinner. I have to make sure that honey is up to it. This shrimp Alfredo was easy to cook.

I am using a jar of ready to use alfredo sauce. For those who cannot eat milk or egg, you can create your own alfredo sauce by mixing the flour with olive oil and add water. Seasoned it with ground black pepper and salt.
Boil pasta as in the instruction.
Drain.
Add alfredo sauce and mix them well.
Lastly, add shrimp. Mix well until shrimp turned pink.
Turn off the stove. Shrimp doesn't take long to cook.
Serve warm or cold.

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Lemak Lodeh and Picnic

Lemak lodeh is a traditional soup made of vegetables and some shrimps. For today's lunch, I am having a bowl of lemak lodeh.  I also cut up some of my homegrown cherry red tomato dressing in salt and ground black peppers.

It is very easy to cook lemak lodeh. The main ingredients are tempeh or tofu, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, coconut milk, hot peppers, onion, and salt. I added ground turmeric to give some color to the dish. I also use shrimps and vegetable stock for flavors. Boil everything with 3 cups of water and 1 cup of coconut milk until they bubbling. Turn off the stove and serve warm.

Slices of tomatoes are my favorite dish.

The mosque was hosting Eid Mubarak picnic. Honey and I join the event. The bbq chicken was delicious. There are many other dishes served. We stayed until the end. It was a relaxing day.

The kids line up for some ice cream. The weather was really beautiful. Breezy and not too hot. It was just perfect to be outside.

The pavilion for the men.

The pavilion for the women.
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Ramadan 2013 Day 11 - Veal Meatloaf and Scallop

I love meat especially veal. The meat is tender and when cook right, it taste so delicious. For today's meal, I cooked veal meatloaf. The other side dish that goes with the meatloaf are the vegetables and the scallops.

Ingredients to cook the meatloaf are:
1 lb veal
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of powdered hot pepper
1 teaspoon of dried parsley
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of italian seasoning
1 egg
1 cup of italian seasoning bread crumb
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
3 teaspoons of powdered onion
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup (mix in the mixture)
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup for topping

Heat the oven at 375 degree F.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the last 1/2 cup of tomato ketchup.
Using the loaf pan, top the veal with the rest of the ketchup and bake the veal in the oven for 45 minutes covered with tin foil.
Then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.
Turn off the oven and let the meatloaf cool down before cutting.

To cook the scallop, I just seasoned with salt and ground pepper. Use 3 tablespoons salted butter and seared the scallop on both sides. Do not cook too long or the scallop will become rubbery.
Delicious!
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Ramadan 2013 Day 10 - Spicy Shrimp and zucchini

Yay! The rain is here! It feels so good drenching in the rain. Mr. Big and I just made it cutting the wild rambler around the fence when the rain came pouring hard on us. Finally, the plants in my garden will get tons of water. I hope they are doing well.
I was in the mood of having some spicy shrimp. I added some zucchini to the dish. It was delicious!

This spicy shrimp used some powdered red hot pepper. I sauteed chopped onion and garlic with some olive oil. I also added some shrimp paste aka also known as "belacan". The smell was divine. Seasoned it with some salt and sugar. And lastly, I added the zucchini. Cook for another 2 minutes and then I turned off the stove. Serve warm. Delicious!
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Shrimp in Coconut Milk

Lodeh or Lemak Shrimp is another meal I like to eat during Ramadan. This simple meal is loaded with tofu. I have fried tofu, dried tofu, shrimp and rice stick noodle cooked in coconut milk.
I also added 5 pieces whole hot peppers.
For flavour, I am using anchovies cube and diced onion.
For this recipe, I used about 1 cup of thick coconut milk.

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Cucur Udang with Creamy Peanut Sauce

Peanut sauce is one of my favorite food. This time I am drizzling some of peanut sauce on the cucur udang or in English translation as shrimp fritters. The peanut sauce is super easy to cook. I was using 1/2 container of the creamy peanut butter. In a pot I added the following:
1 tablespoon of ground chili
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of fresh grated  ginger
1 tablespoon of minced lemongrass
1 tablespoon of minced dried shrimp
2 cups of water
1 cup of coconut milk

Mix all of the ingredients above and simmer on low heat.

For the fritters:
8 medium size shrimp
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of Asian mix herb blend
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 egg
1 cup of water
Optional items: bean sprouts, chives
Use a round and shallow depth ladle to shape the fritters.
Olive oil to deep fry the batter.

Heat the ladle in the hot oil.
Scoop a little bit of the oil in the ladle. This way, the batter will not stick to the ladle and easily removed from the ladle.
Add the batter in the ladle to the top and place one shrimp on it.
Fry the fritter until golden brown.

Bon appetite!

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Shrimp Curry Noodle

Tonight's breaking fast was a simple meal put together with shrimp and curry flavor. I am using angel hair wheat spaghetti for the noodle.

Ingredients:
2 cups of medium size shrimp
2 tablespoons of curry powder
4 pieces hot peppers
1 medium size onion
1 medium size tomato
1 cup shredded carrot
5 pieces soy puff
10 pieces curry leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk
5 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
Dice onion and hot peppers.
In a big pot, heat olive oil.
Saute onion and peppers.
Add curry powder. Cook for 3 minutes.
Add water.
Let it boil.
Add carrots, shrimp, curry leaf and soy puff.
Add coconut milk and salt.
Cook for another 5 minutes. Cover.
Turn off the stove.

In a separate pot, cook spaghetti until soft.
In a small bowl, add some cooked spaghetti or any noodle you fancy. Pour the shrimp curry on the noodle.
Serve warm. Enjoy!
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