Tete a Tete

Anything to do with Valentine's Day celebration is overrated. Dining out is way too expensive, and really, why pay so much for something you know you can cook much better? (Chewah.. angkat bakul betul). Anyway, I decided to cook Other Half something special to celebrate lovers' day (as well as other side stuff...)

First on the menu was lovely grilled salmon and mixed vege. Really yummilicious stuff, the salmon steaks were simply doused in some olive oil, salt, pepper and a wee bit of oregano herbs for an additional zing. Left in the fridge overnight to marinade, they were simply slapped on the (brand new) grill pan with a wee bit of butter till cooked through. The fish was served with reconstituted mixed veg in a wee bit of butter.

Of course, dinner will not be complete without dessert (yes, notice my penchant for all those puddings! I swear I just might turn into a pudding myself if I am not careful!). The pudding of the night was a slapdash trifle. Place a few pieces of fruits (I used tinned lychees) in a bowl and cover it with jello (I used cherry flavoured jello off the storerack). Let jello gel up and then cover with thick custard (recipe as provided earlier). Top with grated dark chocolate and serve to the love of your life.

Later that night, just sigh in repletion.

Lempengs Galore

A simple breakfast, yet yummilicious to the core - lempeng bawang (onion pancakes / crepes). Using a blender, mix in fresh milk, eggs, a couple of tablespoonfulls of flour, salt, pepper and desired seasonings, and blitz till it becomes a nice batter. Add in sliced onions and fry in a frying pan . Serve with curry or rendang, and you've got yourself a winner.

Note to self: must do thinner ones so that tak cepat muak.

Mumsie has flown off to the land of pearly kings and queens with a few lahdidahs. Darn. I wish I was tagging along. I miss the UK. In fact, I think I left a piece of me there way back in August 2000.

Anyway, it's going to be a hectic week, what with a Board Meeting, a Group Co Sec Meeting, those dratted minutes to finish, some outstanding work and more! On top of that, I will be dropping by Kg City Ampang quite often to check on Daddy dearest.

Anyway, something me, P'nut and Zetty did over the weekend.

Glam up and shine we did.

Despite the fact that Madame here was suffering from a leaky schnozz. No fever, but heck, I sounded so bad everybody had to comment on it. Of course, it did mean that I felt rather bleargh as a whole.

Can I fast forward time to April so that I can swim with the dolpins and clown fish sooner rather than later. There's enough crap to contend with in this world that any more and I might just expire from it all.

Diet-ish Food

As the rather prosperous couple (well, the wife, really) have decided to embark on healthy living and reduced calory intake – its no more puddings for the next few weeks. Last night was a fairly healthy meal for the two of us. Meat and veg – not much carbo. What can be more healthy than this?

The veg was simply steamed kalian and carrots topped off with a crabmeat sauce. The sauce was simply made by boiling a chicken stock cube, garlic and water with ground black pepper in a pot, adding shredded crabmeat surimi to the mixture and thickening it with a cornflour mixture. Once thickened, pour onto your veg and wallah… instant veg dish.

Le coq? It was an oyster mushroom chicken that night. Dump chicken, well soaked dried shitake musrooms, loads of ginger and garlic, a splash of sesame oil, a huge dollop of oyster sauce and black pepper in a bowl. Steam it up for around 20 minutes. Alternatively, one can cook it over the stovetop, but make sure that a bit of water and soy sauce is added to ensure that the pot isn’t dried up fast. Cover and cook over fairly medium low heat.

See... not much salt, no oil whatsoever.
Yummy nonetheless.

Pudding Perfection

Comfort is when one could have a nice bowl of bread and butter pudding all drenched in creamy custard sauce. Perfection is when one actually has that bowl of pudding in one’s hands.

The first time I made a bread and butter pud, it was with the help of the Hall’s microwave oven. However, over time, I have tweaked and tweaked the original recipe until I can say that it is almost perfect! After a long spell of not whipping up this yummilicious dish, I made it TWICE! Sinfully calorific, it was a hit both times, nonetheless.

Fairly easy dessert to whip up, slice a baguette up, butter it and layer it in a deep dish, interspersing the bread layers with raisins galore. In a big bowl, whip up about 1 ½ tins of condensed milk, the equivalent 1 ½ tins of water and about 7 eggs (see, it is scarily calorific, innit?). Also, add in two generous pinches of ground cinnamon for lovely after taste and smell. Once all mixed up, pour the eggy mixture into the dish containing the layered bread and leave for a few hours to ensure that the bread has soaked all the eggy custard mixture. Weigh down the bread with a plate, should it be necessary. The longer the bread is left to soak, the better your pud will taste (I left it overnight, believe it or not). Bake in a 150 degrees oven for around 40 minutes (or less if your dish isn’t that deep or more if you have a very deep dish. Use one’s discretion – just don’t let it burn). Serve with…

Custard sauce. Loads of it. Fairly easy to make, I present you the fool proof method of making custard sauce. Add a few heaped tablespoonfuls of custard powder in a pot, and add in some water. Also add in about a couple of tablespoonfuls of fine granulated sugar. Use a whip to make sure that the custard powder and sugar has all diluted in the water. Over very low heat, heat up the custard mix with milk until you have achieved the desired consistency. Serve.

ps – for a luxurious version of this pud, one can spread the bread slices with chunky peanut butter and nuttella, omit the raisins and add in molten dark chocolate to the eggy custard mixture to make a decadent choc-and-peanut-butter pudding.

Lepas ni, I expect other people to make the pudding for me, thankyouverymuch.
Suraya Ilana.. bila lagi?

More Noodles Galore.

By this time, some of you may have realised that I do not partake much in rice. Noodles do it for me, folks. It’s easier and more economical to make, especially if there are only the two of you to feed. This time round, I made a kind of cheat’s Kong Fu Noodles (aka Cantonese Fried Noodles). Boil some air-dried broad noodles and set aside. Blanch kalian, carrots and some dried shitake mushrooms and assemble the noodles and veg in a dish. In a pot, add in some water, a chicken stock cube and some cut meats (I used sausages this time round as it was in the freezer). When boiling merrily away, add in shredded crab meat, some frozen veg and cornflour mixture to thicken it up before adding in the whites of two eggs to create that egg foo young texture. Season with ground pepper and pour of your noodles and veg.
Makan.
Done.