Christmas Eve 2006

Had some friends over for my annual x-mas eve din din - albeit done at a lower scale due to the fact that I now have a baby in tow. Menu of the night was simple - roast chicken, gravy, mash and veg, beef stew, fried noodles and fried chicken.

here's the beef stew I prepared for the night.


1. Way before hand, boil chunks of beef in a pan of water with garlic cloves, sliced celery, pepper, bay leaves and salt added to it until the beef becomes semi tender. Cool. remove beef chunks from the stock and reserve the stock for later.

2. Saute chunks of carrots, celery and onions in a pan till soft. Drain and set aside.

3. Measure out 2 - 3 heaped tablespoons of flour into a plate and season with salt. Dredge the beef chunks in the flour and set aside.

4. In the huge pot, add more oil and brown the dredged beef chunks till it looks brown. Once nicely browned, add in the sauted vegetables and stir to mix before adding in the reserved stock.

5. Add in 1/2 can of tomato puree, 1 can of quatered tinned mushrooms, and top the pot with water.

6. Throw in a couple of bay leaves, a generous helping of black pepper, salt and mixed herbs.

7. Let simmer till thickened.

8. Serve with mash by the side.

I think its delish.

A Christmas Treat

Last year, I made a roast turkey for my Christmas-cum-Birthday Party. And here is the butt end of the cooked fowl... heh heh.

Roasting turkeys are so tedious! But hubby has recently asked for it (last nite in bed, can you believe it?). But one needs to find the smallest turkey available and the biggest oven one can find. I literally stuffed this bird in and out - honestly. Tip : start thawing the day before and preparing and cooking around 11 am.

Step-By-Step Roast Turkey

1. Thaw the smallest turkey you can find. Even then, it will take hours! For every frozen 1 lb, it takes 1 hour, I think. Thaw it in a bucket of water. Once fully soft (check the joints, if it can move freely enough to fly, it's fully thawed). Put in the fridge for the time being.
2. Prepare a big bowl of garlic lemon butter. Lots of butter, lots of crushed garlic, the zest of a lemon.
3. Buy a pack of ready made stuffing and thaw it. I love the mushroom and chestnut stuffing sold at the hypermarkets.
4. Wash and peel a bucket load of potatoes and carrots. Set aside.
5. Get a huge baking tray (mind you that it would fit the oven though) and drizzle olive oil on the bottom. Line the tray with the potatoes and carrots, sprinkle a wee bit of salt and ground black pepper. Also add in loads of cloves of garlic to it.
6. Grab that bird by its legs and make sure it is clean inside out. Stuff the cavity with the stuffing.
7. Try and seperate the skin from the breast of the bird, but take care not to tear it. Stuff the cavity between the meat and the skin with a lot of garlic butter. All the way. Take the bird and rub it profusely with the garlic butter. Massage the bird thoroughly.
8. Place the bird breast side up on the potatoes and carrots. Dot the bird with more garlic butter. Ground some black pepper on top.
9. Roast the turkey in an oven at 150 degrees until the automatic timer on the bird pops up (thank god!).
10. Brown the turkey further until there is a nice brown skin on it.

Serve roast turkey with the veg and gravy.

Mange tout!

ps - by the way, this year takdak christmas-cum-birthday party due to the fact I am still residing in Kg Ampang and the Home is dusty and in a mess. Dapur tak berasap for 5 months there babe! Maybe for Inky's 1st birthday party, okay?

pps - I so tidak larat nak masak a roast turkey this year when the only one who will eat it is hubby and me. Does one know any place that sells halal turkey drumsticks? Kalau tak hubby dapat roast chicken je lah on Christmas morning.

Basic Fried Pasta

I found this old pix residing in my lappie. Forgot about it, heh heh. Anyway, you cook this and it can be turned into other dishes as well.

The preparation:

1. Dice up onions and garlic, set aside.
2. Open up a small can of tomato puree and a can of mushrooms.
3. Dice up a bit of celery.
4. Get a bowl of frozen mixed veg which has been thawed.
5. Cook some pasta in plenty of salted water till al dente.
6. Thaw a pack of ready made minced meat (one can opt for the Ramly minced meat for convenience) and set aside a bowlfull. Make sure it's really thawed.
7. Get that mixed Italian herbs and chilli flakes from the pantry.

Now, lets get cooking:

1. Saute the onions, celery and garlic in oil.
2. Add in the minced meat and fry it till its really, really cooked. Make sure there are no more pink bits and bobs in the pan.
3. Once thoroughly cooked, you pour in the tomato puree, add a bit of water and sprinkle on the herbs and chilli flakes to one's hearts' content.
4. Literally dump in the mixed veg, mushrooms and pasta and stir fry over the fire till all well mixed.
5. Add salt and pepper if you feel like it (actually, the pasta should be salty enough, so it need no additional sodium)
6. Wallah, you have a meal.

On its own, it's great fried pasta.

But try making pouring it into an ovensafe platter and pouring on a mixture of whisked eggs, grated parmesan cheese and milk, topping it with grated cheddar cheese. Dump it into a preheated oven of around say, 150 degrees for about 45 minutes or till the egg sets without burning the cheese. It makes a heck of a yummy baked pasta.

Bon chance.

Pantry 101

Especially for Mr. Commitment Phobic : I applaud your efforts to learn how to cook.
Tapi, before nak belajar masak, nak kena ada basics in the pantry first...

1. You will need to buy at least a kuali and a periuk. If it's for you alone, then you might as well get a small one. Kalau nak masak untuk Mak sekali, buy a medium sized one.
2. Rice cooker - periuk dalam tu pun boleh guna on the stove top.
3. Cooking utensils - sudip, sudu, senduk.
4. Of course, you'll need the staple food: rice, maggi (don't laugh - ni my staple), gula, garam, kicap masin, sos tomato, sos cili, oyster sauce, minyak masak, ground white pepper. Nak adventurous, also buy those rempah sup in a packet (you know, yang ada bunga lawang, kayu manis, buah pelaga, biji ketumbar etc...)
5. Food wise, best stock up on onions, garlic, halia, telur, makanan dalam tin (sardines, tuna, spaghetti sauce, tomato pureeetc).
6. Vegetables : ni beli sikit-sikit and stock up weekly depending on food consumption. Carrots, celery, potatoes, kacang buncis, sawi, cili.
7. Meats : for easy cooking, chicken and fish.
8. Bread, nuggets, spaghetti are optional.
9. The short cut to everything - ready made rencah in packets. We're talking, rencah nasi goreng, mee goreng, mihun goreng, sayur goreng. You know, those cute li'il packets that cost 60 sen each.

Recipes shall be posted up soon I guess. At least you already have my instructions for the masak kicap recipe.

Good luck - keep me posted, dude.