Kuih Keria Recipe

Kuih Keria is one of many delicious traditional Malay kuihs. It is made of sweet potato and flour and coated with crystalised/caramalised sugar. I have tried making them myself before using the sweet potato/yam that was sold at the regular supermarket i.e. Ralph's, Von and etc. The result was rather a disaster. They were too watery and I had to add a lot of flour to be able to make a dough out of them. That only resulted in a hard Kuih Keria. Not the typical soft and slightly chewy delicious Kuih Keria but a rock hard one! That was maybe 3 years ago. I haven't even bothered making them again until recently when I was told to use Japanese yam that is sold at the asian supermarket. Some of my friends in other states told me that it's called Korean yam. I guess the name varies depending on where you buy them or who sell them. Japanese or Korean yam, as long as they give me a delicious Kuih Keria, I am happy.

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A simple and Easy Breakfast

This is among what I would make for myself when I am just too lazy but won't want to settle for toast and butter. I would fry my egg sunny side up and dish up this mixed veggie with a few dash of worchestershire sauce. Have you cooked your mixed veggies like this before? I am not sure exactly how I came to make it this way but I have been doing it for years when I was still living back home. I do like my mixed veggies this way and would make it to accompany my steak or fish.

Mixed Veggies with Worchestershire Sauce

2-3 handful of frozen mixed veggies
1-2 tbs veggie oil
Salt
Sugar (optional)
White pepper (optional)
1 tbs worchestershire sauce

1. Heat oil on medium in a wok or pan and slowly add the frozen mixed veggies. Stir and cover. 2-3min.

2. Uncover and stir. Add all the other ingredients and stir again. 30sec-1min.

3. Serve immediately with toast and fried egg or steak or even fish.

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Yam Fritters / Keledek Goreng

3 more days before we have to change the date to 2009. Time sure does fly very fast. Like Michael said, "Just when I'm finally putting the date on cheques to 2008, it's changing again!". And a lot happened in 2008 too. From the political to weather to world to financial news. Some are good while others look very bleak. You all know which ones are looking very bleak at this moment. We are just done with a 4-day weekend and now we are about to get another 4-day weekend. Some of us of course has to take Friday off to get the long weekend but I am sure it is worth it. Who wants to go to work for 1 day in between holidays, right?

Anyways, I haven't been cooking that much lately but while looking for what to have for breakfast yesterday, I found a yam sitting on the kitchen counter and thought maybe I should make yam fritters. As some of you already know, fritters are a local favourite snack in Malaysia especially during tea-time and breakfast. The usual ones are of course banana fritters but the sellers would usually sell different kind of fritters and yam fritters are one of them. Here is how I make my yam fritters.

Yam Fritters

1 yam, pealed and sliced 1/2cm thick
3 tbs all-purpose flour
2 tbs tempura flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Cold water
Oil for deep frying

1. In a bowl, mix flour, turmeric powder and cold water to form a thick batter.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan on medium high.

3. Take 1 slice of yam at a time and coat with the batter and slowly put it in the wok/pan. Depending on the size of the sliced yam and wok/pan, fry a few at a time. Don't overcrowd because that will change the temperature of the oil. Flip once or twice.

4. Fry until golden brown on both side.

5. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and serve immediately.

**I find the type of yam sold here to be a bit watery than what I am used to and if not eaten immediately after deep-frying, the crust tend to get soggy.

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Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

Is it just me or it is hard to get back to posting after a very long weekend? Well, Thanksgiving was good. Our friends, Shirley and Kevin came to celebrate it with us. We did not have any turkey this year but that does not mean we did not have lots of food. We had hot roast beef sandwiches, Cheesy Garlic Biscuits, sushi, potato salad, coleslaw, yeemee noodles and even a few vodka shots. ;)




I don't really fancy biscuits but Michael loves them especially the ones at Red Lobster. He could just eat those Cheesy Garlic Biscuits and nothing else and he is a happy camper. Very easy. So for Thanksgiving, I decided to make some. I found the recipe at Joyfulabode.com and decided to give it a try. I'm glad everybody liked them. It is easy to make and goes well with the hot roast beef sandwiches.


Cheesy Garlic Biscuits Recipe
Makes 12

*** Burst21 is a game made by my husband during his spare time. Please do extend your support to the game. Thank you all!

****Chef's note: I made these again last night but using Jiffy's Baking Mix. The result is almost the same. So if you can't find Biscuit Mix, you can always use baking mix or maybe even pancake mix. Good luck!

1 pack buttermilk biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, about 1 1/2cups)
1 1/2cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oregano (you can omit or use less)
3/4 tsp garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray cooking sheet with non-stick spray.

2. Put biscuit mix, cheese and milk in a bowl and mix well to form a sticky dough.

3. Using spoon, drop lumps of dough onto cookie sheets 1.5in apart. Bake for 10min.

4. In a bowl, melt butter and mix with oregano and garlic salt.

5. When the timer goes off, take them out and brush with butter mixture and bake 5min at 400F and another 5-6min at 350F.

6. Transfer into a plate and serves immediately.

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Prawn Fritters / Cekodok Udang

I love fritters. Be it Flour Fritters, Banana Fritters or Prawn/Shrimp fritters or Cekodok/Cucur Udang as they are fondly called by Malaysian. They are easy to make and very filling. I have to say that cekodok is our favourite breakfast on weekend.

Prawn Fritters / Cekodok Udang

Makes 18-20

18-20 medium size shrimp - cleaned, deveined and/or de-shelled

1 egg
1/2 medium size onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cold water

Oil for deep frying

Steel ladle

1. In a bowl, lightly whisk the egg. Add in chopped onion, flour, turmeric powder and salt. Stir a little bit and then add in the water. Stir well.

2. In a wok, heat the oil on medium.

3. Run the ladle in the hot oil just to lightly coat it to avoid sticking. Pour about 1-1.5 tbsp batter into the ladle and place 1 shrimp on top. Lighly press into the batter.

4. Put it into the hot oil and give it a little shake/wiggle so the batter comes off the ladle.

5. Flip the fritters once or twice until golden brown.

6. Continue until all batter are used. Fry between 4-5 fritters at one time, depending on the size of your wok.

7. Enjoy on its own or dip into sweet chili sauce.

**Note

Because of the water in the ingredient, the fritter could/would splatter when frying. Please be very careful when deep frying them.

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Serawa Durian with Roti Jala (Durian in Coconut Milk with Lacy Pancake)

You will either love it or totally hate it. Yes, I am talking about durian. The King of Fruit. With smell that is so intoxicating it would make you ask for more. Or run away. As for me, I have always loved durian. I am no connoisseur of durian and wont be able to differenciate between all the varieties there are out there. I just dont discriminate. If it's durian, I will love it.

Fresh durian is practically non-existent here. The durians that we get here are from Thailand. Either as a whole or seedless and frozen. Since Michael do not eat and neither can he take the smell, I would normally buy the frozen seedless kind and eat them little by little.

Sometimes I would make serawa durian. Serawa basically means a mixture of coconut milk, brown sugar and pandan leaf. So serawa durian is a mixture of all those with durian. It is very easy to make. You can eat it with bread or with roti jala (lacy pancake), hot or chilled. The smell is not as strong as eating them 'fresh' either so if you're a durian virgin, you might want to try this. I decided to make roti jala to go with this since Rasa Malaysia gave me the mould. I also used her recipe for Roti Jala. But I didn't do a very good job in lacy-ing the roti. lol.

Serawa Durian

1 tube of seedless frozen durian (or 5-6 pieces)

1 can coconut milk, 400ml

4-5 tbsp brown sugar

4-5 drops of pandan flavoured paste

1. Put everything in a pot and cook on low heat. Stir often. This would be maybe between 12-15 min.

2. Pour them into a bowl and enjoy with roti jala or bread.

3. If you like it chilled, just put it in the fridge for a few hours.

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Banana Fritters / Cekodok Pisang Recipe

What do we Malaysian have in common? The answer is simple. EAT. Boy, do we love to eat! No matter how long we have been away from home, we just cannot change when it comes to eating. At breakfast, among other topic discussed would definitely be, "where or what are we going to have lunch and/or dinner?". It is pretty common for us to have breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. Everyday.

I may not be eating 5 meals/day anymore but I do daydream about it. I cannot help it. I like to know what I am going to have for lunch and what is for dinner, while I am having breakfast. Michael used to find it weird that I would be asking him what does he want for lunch while or right after we had breakfast. He is used to it now though. A girl needs to know in advance if she needs to take the chicken out from the freezer, you know what I mean? ;)

Anyways, my friend came over for lunch yesterday. After we had our lunch, she asked if I were going to make fried banana. Since I do not have plaintain which I normally use for fried banana, I decided to make some banana fritters instead. Another easy-peasie recipe. These are usually sold by the road-side stalls back in Malaysia during breakfast and tea time.

Banana Fritters / Cekodok Pisang

Serves 2

3 ripe bananas, peeled

1/2 cup flour

1/3 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Oil for frying

1. In a bowl, mash the bananas well. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. You will get a slightly thick batter.

2. In a wok or deep pan, put in the oil about 1.5"-2" high and preheat at medium heat.

3. Scoop the batter using a tablespoon and slowly let it 'slide' into the hot oil. Make sure the spoon is not too high up from the oil to avoid splattering. Fry until golden brown. Flip once or twice during frying.

4. Repeat step 3 until you have used all the batter.

Fry between 6-10 of them at any one time depending on the size of your wok/pan. You dont want to fry too many at one time since that would change the oil temperature and you will end up with soggy fritters drenched with oil.

If you like fritters or banana, you will also like these:

Flour Fritter

Banana in Syrup

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Spicy Sardine Sandwich Recipe

Playing around with the newly acquired photoshop. I know I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go but well, I am learning.

Sardine is pretty easy to get here in the US but most of the times they come in oil whereby in Malaysia, most of them comes in tomato sauce. They are widely used as filling, be it sandwiches or puff or roti canai (pratha). Some people might think less about sardine compared to tuna but trust me, if you know how to prepare them, you will get hooked.

Sardine sandwich is one of my personal favourite when it comes to sardine of course. It is cheap, easy to make and easy to eat and also healthier. My other favourite would be eating white rice with sardine, cut chili and onion. That would be for another post.

Sardine Sandwich

Serves 2

Filling

1 can sardine in tomato sauce

1 red chili or if you like it hotter, 2 thai chili, finely chopped

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1-2 tbsp ketchup

1-2 tbsp lime/lemon juice

Salt & sugar

1. Put all the ingredients and the juice from the sardine into a bowl and mix well.

2. Add in the sardine and using a spoon or fork, mash the sardine (gently if you want it to stay a bit chunky)

3. Taste to your liking.

If you are using a sandwich maker, lightly butter 1 side of each bread. Place the bread with the buttered side out.

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Let's Play A Guessing Game, Shall We? Part II

Now, can you guess what those are?

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Thank you all for playing along with my guessing game. Yes, this is Cek Mek Molek. Its very popular especially in the East Coast of Malaysia, mainly in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu. Eventhough my family live in Kuala Lumpur, I basically grew up in the East Coast since I went to a boarding school and attended a higher institution there. And that is how I got to know of all the goodies that East Coast have to offer. The words cek mek basically means lady and molek means pretty, sweet, cute and/or petite so directly translated it means Pretty/Sweet Lady. They may not be that pretty in look but they sure are sweet!

I made this during one of days when I was sitting watching the tv on one fine Sunday evening when suddenly, just out of the blue, I just crave for it. They are pretty easy to make since the ingredients are very basic. Sweet potato, flour, salt, sugar and oil for frying, that is all you need to make this sweet delicacy.

Cek Mek Molek

Serves 3-4

400-500gm sweet potato (I use 1 medium size)

1/2 cup flour (more or less depending on the size of the potato)

1/2 tsp salt

sugar

frying oil (enough to deep-fry them)

1. Boil the sweet potato until soft. Drain and mashed.

2. Slowly add in the flour and salt and mix well. Just remember that too much of flour will make them hard.

3. In a wok or frying pan or deep fryer, heat the oil using medium heat.

4. Take some of the dough and shape into a ball about 2in diameter. Since the dough can be pretty sticky, sprinkle some flour on you palm before you make the ball.

5. Slowly flatten the ball and press the middle part to make a small crater. Put some sugar and fold it back into a ball. Make sure it is properly sealed to avoid the sugar from running out when frying.

6. Slowly shape the ball into an oval shape with a slightly sharpened ends. As you can see from the pictures, I failed in making the ends sharp. Continue until all the dough is finished.

7. Fry them until golden brown.

Cek Mek Molek is usually enjoyed for breakfast and/or tea. Do be extra careful when biting into this delicacy as the sugar inside will already turned into liquid form (syrup). Biting it too fast or hard can result in having your whole table and/or shirt covered with the syrup.

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Roti Pratha with Egg and Spicy Thai Chili Tuna

I dont like tuna mayo or tuna in oil but I do love spicy tuna and Im glad Bumble Bee has a version that is pretty close to what Im used to. Usually I would just eat it with toast but sometimes I would go the extra mile and eat it with roti pratha with egg. You can find the frozen roti pratha from the Indian or Pakistani stores. My favourite brand is 'Kawan' but lately they dont seem to sell it anymore.

These are so easy to make. Take a piece of the frozen roti pratha (do not defrost) and put it on a flat pan with medium low heat. Once the top part is not frozen anymore (you can see the color changes), break an egg on top and try to keep the egg to stay on the roti. When the egg is half done, slowly flip the roti and cook the other side. Make sure the pan is not too hot or you'll get a burned roti on the outside and not so cooked inside. Keep flipping it for one or two more times until the roti and the egg is done.

As for the chili tuna, well, its all ready to eat. All you've gotta do is open the can and scoop some onto the roti pratha with egg and enjoy. ;)

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Cheese Omelette

An ideal breakfast to me would be cekodok or nasi lemak or nasi goreng (fried rice) or roti canai/pratha or even mee goreng (fried noodle). Sometimes it would be instant noodle. Whatever it is, its just gotta be heavy. Sometimes I would just take cereal or waffle but I will get hungry again in an hour so that doesnt help. Michael on the other hand doesnt understand the concept of heavy breakfast. So for him, Id usually make cekodok or omelette or grilled cheese or just peanut butter sandwich.

For today, I made him cheese omelette. I used to have 'accidents' everytime I made this for him. The first 4-5 times, without fail it'l get burned on 1 side but he would still eat them. I only managed to not get it burned the last few times including today. I must say that actually today's is the prettiest omelette iv ever made. ;) Im not really sure why but maybe its got something to do with the fact that we'r now using gas stove rather than electric.

Cheese Omelette

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

1 slice cheese

1. In a small pan (8" diameter), heat the butter on low heat.

2. Beat the egg well and add milk. Continue beating until well mixed.

3. Pour into the heated pan. About 4-5min.

4. Put the cheese in the middle and slowly fold the egg into crescent shape.

5. Slowly press the edges so they stick to each other and to avoid the cheese from oozing out. 30sec.

6. Slowly flipped it over for another 30sec.

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Roti John

Roti John is basically meat sauce on rolls. Roti means bread in Malay. Please dont ask me why its called Roti John though. lol. Its something that you could get from the street vendor just like the Ramly burger stalls back in Malaysia. The first and only time I made this was when my friends and I went to Port Dickson for a weekend. We went for 1 night but being kiasu, we bought enough food to last for at least 4 days. There were so much food left especially burger meat, buns/rolls, eggs and etc. that's when I decided to make Roti John myself.

This recipe however, is using the leftover spaghetti sauce. Very simple and easy to make yet very filling and good. If I may say so myself. Thank you! ;)

Roti John

Leftover spaghetti sauce (depending on how many rolls you're making)

1 egg (to be used with up to 2 rolls)

Salt and pepper to taste - optional

6-in roll (i used hotdog bun)

1. In a bowl, mix the spaghetti sauce and egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Heat a pan on medium high with a little bit of butter and pour the mix into the shape of the rolls. 10-15sec

3. Place the roll on top of the sauce. If the sauce keeps 'running', use a spatula to slowly push it under the rolls. 2-3min.

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