Ramadan 2015 Day 24 - Break Fasting Party part 4

It was a nice break fasting dinner at a friend's house. I ate too much that I had to stop or else I would not be able to drive home. Everyone are happy and enjoyed the meal. We start the course with some appetizers followed with rice and all kind of side dishes. It was a potluck dinner where everyone brought their own dish and share it at the party.

 One of my favorite appetizer is the spring rolls. The filling of this spring roll is a mixture of eggs and vegetables. Someone brought quesadilla. I am not sure what is the filling. It might be egg and cheese.

 The hostess prepared the fried noddle. It was really tasty. My blood sugar probably went up to the roof after eating this meal. But it was really delicious.

 More main dishes are served. There are biryani rice, pineapple and cucumber salad, fish, bergedil, rice stick noodles, etc.

 We had watermelon and cocktail fruits for the drink.

 One lady brought this delicious tiramisu. I really had a good time enjoying the food and the company.
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Ramadan 2015 Day 23 - French Fries, Fried Fish, Steak and Eggs

Another simple breaking fast dinner today. Mr. Big and I are not a big eater although we both are big. It was weird isn't it...but that's how life is. I am blessed with all the food I have, the health and the wealth.

Today's dinner was fries, fried fish, steak and eggs. Super easy to cook and super delicious. I got too hungry that I ate the fish and the fries...no picture today.

I did take a picture of the steak and eggs.

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Ramadan 2015 Day 17 - Break Fasting Party part 2

Another day of feasting on lots of food during iftar or in other word breaking the fast dinner at another friend's house. I wish I could stay much longer after dinner but unfortunately dinner started around 8:40 PM. Before I knew it, the clock was ticking and it was almost 11PM at night. I felt like Cinderella where I need to be home before midnight. Some of the ladies make themselves comfortable at that house. They have been to the friend's house many times over the years. Waiting for the terawih prayer was a challenge for me. I wish I could perform the prayer with the group but like I said earlier, I need to be home by certain hour.

 I brought this store bought triple chocolate cake. This cake is divine.

 The table is serving lots of main food. I just don't know which one I want to eat. I certainly cannot sample each and every dish. They are all look delicious.

 This pineapple and cucumber salad is my number one favorite food. I could eat the whole bowl. The sweetness of the pineapple gives delicious flavor to the cucumber with a hint of hot pepper and onion. This salad is refreshing.

 The dessert table is full with lots of sweetness.

This fish curry is delicious. As a matter of fact there are several different types of fish being served. Some are fried fish dress up in hot and spicy sambal, others are fish in coconut milk and fish in plain soup.
All of the food are delicious.

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Ramadan 2015 Day 16 - Break Fasting Party

Another day is spent at a friend's house for break fasting. There are so much food served. I had a great time tasting each of the food.

 I brought these donuts for everyone to enjoy.

 I just don't know where to start...we have pulut panggang, fish in curry gravy, fried fish with sambal, fried bee hoon(rice stick noodles), fruit salad(rojak), stir fry vegetables, fried noodles, more stir fry vegetables.

 Above is the dessert table. There are curry puff, spring rolls, pulut panggang, fried tempe, onde onde, kuih ketayap, and fermented glutinous rice (tapai pulut).

 The same food as shown before...

 Close up on the tapai pulut. They are delicious.

 Spring rolls.

 The green food is called kuih ketayap.

 The hostess signature cake, pandan chiffon.

The drinks...fruit cocktail and watermelon juice.

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Ramadan 2015 Day 3 - Salmon and Gnocchi

The third day in the fasting month went smoothly. I didn't wake up and have enough time to eat breakfast before the sunrise. If I did, I probably will consume a bowl of cereal. I have bought several boxes of sweet chocolate crunch cereal.

Ramadan is not complete without fresh dates. I am blessed to be able to buy dates at almost every grocery store in my area. My favorite dates would be the Medjool dates from California. They are the sweetest and the best. The size is huge. Having 2 pieces would be enough to provide energy for the whole day.

Dinner tonight is a simple meal. I cooked salmon and gnocchi.

 

I marinated the salmon with soy sauce and Mrs. Dash. I baked the salmon at 350 degree F for about 20 minutes.

The gnocchi is store bought. All I have to do is to boil the gnocchi. Once the gnocchi floating to the top, I drained them. Then I tossed in a cup of alfredo sauce and 2 tablespoon of hot salsa. Mixed them well and heated in the microwave for about 1 minute.

Garnish the dish with blanched homegrown spinach, radish pods and sliced cherry tomatoes. Delicious!

My drink today is diet orange soda. Super delicious!

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Fried Kue Teow and Fish Egg

I was happy to find the Asian store is selling fish eggs. I have been wanting to buy and cook some fish eggs. I like them lightly pan fry, or cook in curry, or in spicy gravy. Today's dinner is a simple kue teow and fish egg cooked in hot and spicy blend with petai (stinky beans).

The kue teow was fried simply with some shallots, garlic, hot peppers, soy sauce, fish sauce and bean sprouts.

I am using ready to use the Indo spices for the fish egg. I sauteed some yellow onion, and then add 1 packet of the Indo spices. Then add the fish egg and the stinky beans. Let it cook for about 5 minutes. Cover and turn the stove off.

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Corn Bread and Croaker Tom Yam

During this fasting month, diet is very important. I try to eat food that will not hurt my tummy since I have not eat or drink from sunrise until sundown. However, for today, I am craving for something spicy and sour. I am also crave for some corn bread. I love bread especially a sweet bread. This corn bread is very tasty. I can eat a few pieces in one sitting. Yummy!

Ingredients for corn bread:

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 cup of yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup olive oil

Method for the corn bread:

In a large bowl, combine the dry mix first, flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. 

Then add egg, milk and olive oil until well blend.

Prepare a 6 inches square pan by greasing the pan with baking spray.

Pour the batter into the pan.

 Bake the corn bread at 400 degree F for about 18 minutes.

Ingredients for Croaker Tom Yam:

2 croakers ( cleaned, head off and cut half)

4 tablespoons tom yam paste

1 large sweet onion

4 medium size tomatoes

5 pieces kafir lime leaf

3 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

In a big pot, heat olive oil. 

Fry the sliced onion.

Add Kafir lime leaf.

Add tom yam paste. Stir well.

Add water.

Add fish and tomato and let it cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Cover.

Enjoy!

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Steamed Cod Fish and Prunes

This is a super easy meal to cook. I like the sweet and a little bit sourish flavor from the dried prunes (asam boy).

Ingredients:
2 cod fish fillets
2 cups water
5 dried prunes
2 teaspoons oyster sauce ( can use soy sauce to substitute)
1 inch fresh ginger
1 tablespoon dried onion
1 teaspoon chopped lemongrass
1/2 teaspoon sugar
a pinch of salt

Method:
Boil water with all of the ingredients above.
Then add fish.
Cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve warm with white rice.

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Ramadan 22 - Fried Croakers

Time flies for this Ramadan. There are 7 to 8 days left before eid mubarak. I am still sewing clothes for eid. The weather was really nice today. The breeze was cooler than usual. I took the advantage to clean the RV. We are going to take the RV to the camp ground tomorrow before summer ended.
Today's meal is my favorite fried fish with creamy potato salad. Today's fried fish is a croaker coated with my favorite stir fry flour.

There are two types of fish that I like. One is croaker and the other is porgies. These fishes are cheaper yet tastier.
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Baked Salmon and Fried Beef Liver

The weather is back on the hottest side. The temperature reached up to 100 degree F today. When the weather is as hot as today, I feel sluggish. I don't have the mood for anything. But since I am fasting today, I decided to eat some rice. It feels like it has been for a long time I have not eaten white rice. Eek...wrong. I did have white rice and fried rice when I break my fasting at friend's house last weekend. Anyway, I am in the mood for white rice. But of course, I had to flavor the rice a bit. I am using chicken stock and dried parsley in the rice. Cook it in the rice cooker and within 10 minutes the rice is done.

I am actually craving for beef lungs. But I cannot find it anywhere here. Instead I found beef liver. I thought this beef liver will do.
I added the following spices to rub the beef liver with:
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper

Mix all the spices well and rub them on the beef liver.

In a big pot, heat 1 cup olive oil.
Once the oil is hot, add all the beef liver and fry them until there is no blood running through.

For honey, I bake him some marinated salmon. This is a super easy recipe.
All I need is salt, ground black pepper and Italian salad dressing.
Bake this salmon in the oven at 400 degree F for about 20 minutes.
This salmon is fantastic to serve alone or with white rice.
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Sunday Break-fasting Meal

I woke up this morning greeted again by another rainy day. My plan to work in the garden once again went down the drain. But I feel bless because the weather is not screaming hot and I can fast with limited dehydration. I was going to sew my baju raya then but I have to go back to JCP to return the broken belt. Penneys open a 11 am today and I was 30 minutes early. Luckily Christmas Tree store already open. I walked inside the store. There are so many nice items I wanted to buy but I had to refrain myself from doing so. After JCp, I went to my grocery store, price rite. I bought the chicken gizzard. I am craving fo the curry chicken gizzard I cooked last week. The store is selling cucumber at $0.33 a piece. I grab 3 cucumber and 2 pineapples. Cucumber, pineaapple and onion are good combination in this simple homemade pickle.

I also bought these beautiful cactus fruit. I have no idea how to eat them. At the store, I saw people are using plastic bag to hold the cactus pear. I simply grab these fruits with my bare hands.

Below is the explanation I found in wikipedia which explained why people are using the plastic bag as a glove.

"The pears with the reddish-orange or purple skin and deep purple interiors are considered to be the sweetest, but the white-skinned varieties are more popular in Mexico.
Store-bought prickly pears are usually spine-free and sometimes can be handled with your bare hands. Unprocessed pears still have glochids that will drive you crazy if you get some on your skin. Just to be sure, always use tongs or at least a plastic bag as a glove.
If you're foraging for prickly pears, remember that while all pears are edible, only a few will actually be ripe and taste good.
Remove the spines.

Place the pear in a container of cold water. Doing this washes some spines away, but not all of them.
Skin the pears.

Pick up the end of the pear with a few paper towels folded together, cradling the pear within the paper towels and not allowing the surface of the pear to touch your skin.
Slice off the thicker skin at both ends of the prickly pear (the bottom and the top). It takes a little practice to know how much to slice off. Generally, you want to take off the skin without getting at the seed-filled center.
Cut lengthwise along the pear's top-bottom centerline just through the skin. Using that slit, and being careful about the spines, use the knife to lever the skin and peel it off of the rest of the pear.
Cut the pear into slices, or stick onto a fork or skewer and serve.

The flesh of the prickly pear can be used to make jam, jelly, sorbet, wine, and "cactus candy."
The seeds can be consumed with the fruit (but be careful not to bite into them, as they're quite hard) or spit out.
Some people eat the seeds in soup or dry them to be ground into flour. "

Fried Croaker, Greens and Black Eye Pea

Marble Pound Cake with Sweet strawberry

Thank God it is Friday! Second day of fasting in Ramadan went well. The rain never stop since yesterday until the evening. I thought I am back in the winter season. The temperature dropped to the 60s. I could not go to the garden after work. Instead, I rushed home and went straight to bed. I was feeling super duper sleepy. By 7:20 Pm I woke up and started frying the fish. I opened a can of greens and a can of black eye pea. I like the prepared greens and black eye pea by Sylvia's. They are the best.

For dessert, I have prepared cut strawberries with sugar and kept in the refrigerator over night. The sugar broke up into nice juices and sweetened the strawberries. I just poured the strawberries onto the marble pound cake.

Fried Croaker with greens and black eye pea




Croaker is one of my favorite fish. I like to coat it with the fish fry bread crumbs by Zatarain.
I then just heated the greens and the black eye pea in the microwave for 5 minutes.
Honey! Dinner is served.
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Panko Breaded Croaker and Potato Salad

This is a simple meal that I served for dinner last night. I have not been cooking new recipe lately other than the seafood and vegetables that already have been featured in my site. My dinner has been a simple meal like porridge, shrimp, fish and vegetables. I find this recipe is the best so far. The technique to achieve the best crunchy and spicy fried fish has to be as follows. If you over mix the panko bread crumbs you will get a mushy batter and the fish will not be crunchy.
Ingredients:
2 Croakers. I cut it into half so that easier for me to fry them.
1 cup zatarain's ready to use fish fry mix.
2 cups plain panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
olive oil to fry

Fried Porgies

Everytime I fry a fish, I will think of my grandmother. She loves fried fish. My grandmother cannot eat food that is too spicy or too flavorful. She will digest well with white rice and fried fish.
For honey, I will have to butterfly his fish and fry it with his special favorite flour.
As for me, I like it the traditional way. I used turmeric powder and salt to flavor this porgies. I also make spicy soy sauce to dip the fish.
I garnish this fried porgies with some petai or also known as Parkia speciosa, bitter bean,sator, twisted cluster bean, yongchaa, yongchaak, zawngtah or stink bean.

Fifteenth Day Ramadam - Bubur Lambok

Honey just cannot stand it to see me relaxing watching TV while sewing beads on my baju kurung on this beautiful Saturday. He decided to mow the lawn. He wants me to help him picking up the grass. It was really challenging for me to be fasting and work in the yard under the hot summer sun. I already worked as early as at 6 am to remove the weeds in my flower bed in the front of the house.

When we went back in the house, about four hours later, I remember seeing bubur lambok cooked by Kak Hanieliza . Bubur lambok sort of an Asian version for Gumbo. This bubur lambok is cook with beef. There are so many version of bubur lambok exists. Some people add corn, fish, shrimp, chicken, or potato in their bubur lambok. During Ramadan, the fasting month, bubur lambok is one of the most popular meal to enjoy after the sun has gone down. It has rice for the carb and meat like beef, chicken or fish for the protein. It also has vegetables like beans and carrots for fiber. Overall, it is a one dish that is loaded with good nutrients.

Ingredients:
1 cup long or short grain rice
1/2 lb beef
3 medium size shallots
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 inch fresh ginger(grated)
5 pieces bird eyes chili (whole)
2 star anise
1 stick of cinnamon bark
1 teaspoon ground clove
2 tablespoon thick coconut milk
1 teaspoon dry parsley flakes ( use fresh if you have)
1 cup edamame (family of soy beans)
1 carrot (Julienne)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts ( I am using honey roasted peanuts)
1 tablespoon fried shallots for garnish.
1/3 cup olive oil for cooking
Salt and ground pepper to taste
5 cups water.

Method:
Add olive oil in a bog pot.
Heat the pot on medium high.
Add diced shallots.
Add grated ginger.
Add beef that has been cut thinly into bite size.
Add ground clove, cinnamon stick and star anise.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Add coconut milk. Combine.
Add 5 cups water and rice.
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.Let the rice cook, break down and really soft. You would not want to use basmathi rice for this meal as basmathi rice take longer time to break.
Add edamame, parsley flakes and carrots.
Stir well.
Add salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Turn off the stove and serve this dish warm. Garnish with fried onion or fried shallot. You could also garnish this dish with some chives, green onions or flat leaves parsley.

As for my honey, I cook for him fried cod fillet and Rosemary and garlic potato hash.
I used the zatarain's stir fry bread crumbs to coat the fish.
For the potato all you need are:
4 medium potato. Dice this small.
1 large shallots or any medium red or yellow onion. Dice it small.
1/4 tablespoon dry rosemary and garlic spice.
1/3 teaspoon dry parsley flakes.
4 tablespoon butter.
1 cup water.
salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Method:
In a big skillet, melt butter on medium.
Add shallots. Stir.
Add potato.
Add rosemary and garlic spice, parsley flakes salt and pepper.
Add water. Stir and cover. Cut the heat to medium low.
Cook until potato is tender and all the water has been soak up in the dish.

We are half way to Syawal. My baju kurung is 70% done. I am very excited.

Thirteenth Day Ramadan - Fish in Turmeric Soup

For some reason turmeric leaves is not easy to find at my Asian grocery store around my area. I always have to omit this fragrant and delicious ingredient in my asian meal. A friend of mine,Yati Harvey sent to me via postal some of her turmeric plants all the way from her home. We kind of exchanging plants when I sent her the 'Daun Kesum'. I separated the plants she sent to me into two and grow them in two 8 inches pots.
They are doing so well in my kitchen. Their shoots keep growing and they really love the heat from the kitchen. Since they are new plants and their roots are not fully developed, I do not sit them outside.
Today's breakfasting meal is using this aromatic and delicious turmeric leaf.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb fish (I am using fish head that has been cut into bite pieces. You could use any fish you like)
3 large shallots
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 big piece of the turmeric leaf (slice it thinly)
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
2 pieces kaffir lime leaves(daun limau purut)
5 pieces bird eyes chili
2 cups water
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:
Heat olive oil in a big pot on medium.
Add sliced onions. Sweat the onion for 2 minutes.
Add chopped garlic.
Add bird eyes chili (cili padi).
Add grated ginger. Stir until fragrant(not to burn the garlic).
Add turmeric leaves, turmeric powder, and whole kaffir lime leaves.
Add fish. Stir gently to coat.
Add water.
Seasoning with salt and ground black pepper.
Cook until water comes to a boil.
Cover and turn off the stove.
Serve warm with white rice or bread.
I am using a wheat bread.
The smell of this fish soup was really making me hungry. The taste was great. The turmeric leaf add freshness to the taste.
Enjoy!