Egg Rendang - Rendang Telur

After I made Beef Rendang recently, I found that Ummi fr Home Sweet Home made Egg Rendang and being typical me, when I just learned about making something new, I tend to make them a lot. I Immediately boiled some eggs and decided to take it up a notch by deep-frying them too. I love to deep-fry hard-boiled egg. I have done it for my Sambal Telur / Egg Sambal before.

I must say this Egg Rendang / Rendang Telur is the easiest rendang to make. Unlike beef or chicken rendang that take hours to make/cook, this Rendang Telur takes less than an hour. That may sound long to some but if you have ever made rendang before, any kind of rendang that is, it will take hours to get them 'blend' together. So if you are running out of time or just to want a rendang dish but like me, too lazy to make something tedious, do give this Egg Rendang / Rendang Telur a try.

Egg Rendang / Rendang Telur
serves 2-3

3-4 eggs, boiled and de-shelled
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp coriander powder
2 shallot, thinly sliced
1in ginger, thinly sliced
1 garlic, thinly sliced
2-3in lemongrass, thinly sliced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 small can coconut milk
1 tbs kerisik
Salt and sugar to taste

1. In a pot, heat some oil on medium heat and deep-fry the eggs until brown. The outer skin would get a bit wrinkly. Keep turning them until all sides are brown and wrinkly. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a different pot and add in the sliced ingredients. Fry till fragrant.

3. Add in sambal oelek, lemongrass, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Stir well.

4. Add in coconut milk, salt and sugar and mix well.

6. Stir continuously and let the rendang cook on medium heat until almost dried and add in kerisik and eggs.

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Eid Open House Menu 4 - Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam

It is already the month of November. Today is my Big-Day. And the whole world is waiting for it. Of course for a totally different reason but it is nevertheless, still exciting. For this special day, I thought I would post my chicken soto recipe. I think it is rather appropriate since it is raining today and having some soupy dish when it rains is just so good. Of course, Soto is just good regardless of the weather condition.

Chicken Soto or Soto Ayam is what this is normally called. It comes in a set of rice cake and soup, garnishes with shredded chicken, sweet chili soy sauce, bean sprout and bergedil. However, I did not make any bergedil since I already had so much food. Back home, you can find a ready-made chicken soto paste which is called 'sop bonjot' but I never used it. I find the result to be too watery and not to my liking. So if there is 1 thing that I make from scratch, soto ayam is it.

I learned to make soto ayam from my aunt in Johor. That was 1 of the many dishes served during Eid. Once I have mastered (*wink*) the know-how to make soto ayam, it became my duty to make them for our yearly Eid openhouse. I have even had to make them for my friend's openhouse and my cousin's openhouse. Of course then when I made soto ayam, it would be for like 100 people and no measurements required. Everything is by-ear measurement. Now that I am married and living away from home, I learned to make it in smaller portion and with measurement so I can share them with other people.

Chicken Soto / Soto Ayam
serves 2-3

A.
1 piece chicken thigh,bone-in (u can also use 2 pieces for this recipe)
4 cardamon seed
4 cloves
2 star anise
2in cinnamon stick
4-5 tablespoon oil1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)

B. (Blended)
4 shallots
1 onion
4 garlic
2in ginger

C.
Rice cake / Ketupat
Beansprout
Fried tung hoon - fried and crushes (optional)
Fried shallot

1. In a pot, heat the oil and add the cardamon, cloves, star anise and cinnamon. Stir for about 1-2 min.

2. Add in B and stir for another 4-5min.

3. Add in the chicken and water enough to cover the chicken, (about 1.5-3 cups). 2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Keep flipping the chicken and continue boiling for abt 15-20min. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it cool down.

4. Add another cup of water and the coconut milk. (The blended ingredients and coconut milk will make the soup thicker and that is wht we want. So make sure you dont add too much water.

5. Let it boil and then only you add more salt and sugar to taste.

6. Shred the chicken and put the bones back in the soup. You can also put the shredded chicken meat back into the soup if you like.

Chili Soy Sauce

4-5 thai chili (more if you like it spicier)
Sweet soy sauce (I use habhal brand)
Salt
Lime juice

Pound thai chili using mortar and pestle. If you are making a lot, you can use the blender. Add in the rest of the ingredients








Soto Ayam - Guest Blogging

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Eid Open House Menu 3 - Briyani Rice with Beef Rendang and Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

It has been awhile since I last made briyani rice. So for my openhouse, I decided to make some. Just a plain briyani rice with a few side dishes to go with it. The first side dish is of course the Spicy Honey Chicken. For the briyani rice itself, I use Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix that you can find at the Indian stores. I have posted the Malay Chicken Briyani recipe before with chicken in it. The only difference is I dont use any Adabi briyani mix nor chicken for the rice itself since I was making rice and dishes instead of just rice. So for just the rice, this is how you make it.

Briyani Rice

serves 2

1 cup basmati rice (rinsed)

1 3/4 cup water
Salt and sugar to taste

2 tbsp ghee oil (or vegetable oil)
Half onion (finely sliced)

2" ginger (finely sliced)
4 spices - 3 cardamom seed, 1" cinnamon stick, 2 star anise seed, 3-4 cloves (rinsed)
2 tbsp Shan's Malay Chicken Briyani mix

1. Heat up the ghee oil in a pot and add the 4-spices until aromatic.

2. Add in the chopped onion & garlic. Keep stirring for about 3-4min.

3. Add the rice and water and salt and sugar. Stir, taste and let it boil. Cover and simmer for 25min.

For Beef Rendang, I just use the ready made paste that my mom gave me. You can just use any rendang paste that you could find at asian stores. I added a little bit of curry powder and chili powder to the mix to get a spicier Beef Rendang. I also added a few kaffir lime leaves half way through cooking to get that aromatic smell.

Another dish that I cooked to pair with my Briyani Rice is Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce. Yes, besides Chicken Gizzards, I also eat liver. Beef liver. I think I get kind of hooked to it when my mom made them for my sis-in-laws after they gave birth. They are just so good and of course not available at your regular supermarket. I got mine at the halal store in Garden Grove. Here is the recipe;

Beef Liver in Black Pepper Soy Sauce

1/2lb beef liver
3-4 tbsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion
2in ginger
3-4 garlic
5-6 tbsp sweet soy sauce
Salt

1. In a mortar and pestle, pound onion and ginger.

2. Mix everything in a bowl and let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour.

3. In a pan, heat up some oil and sauteed the marinated stuff until half cook.

4. Add sweet soy sauce and salt. Taste and continue stirring.

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Happy Deepavali

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Hindu readers Happy Deepavali/Diwali or also known as festivals of lights which falls on Monday October 27th.

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Eid Open House Menu 2 - Peanut Sauce with Rice Cake

What is Hari Raya / Eid-ul Fitri for us Malaysian without ketupat? Ketupat is rice cooked in an individual baskets of woven coconut leaves. I still remember when I was a kid and went back to my father's hometown in Johor for Hari Raya, my late grandmother and aunties would get all the kids to sit down and learn the art of weaving coconut leaves into ketupat wrapper. Unfortunately, none of us did quite get it. Not then and definitely not now. It is rather sad but thank god for instant rice cake which may not be ketupat but it serves the same purpose.

I was pretty nervous when I could not find any at the asian supermarket near our place. I asked around and check the internet and finally someone told me to check out 99 Ranch Market. I have only been to the one in Anaheim a long time before and did not like the place so I decided to check out their outlet in Irvine. It was a Saturday and the parking was full that we had to park at the 30min parking area. Yup, 30 min for me to find my instant ketupat. But luck was on my side and I found it in the 3rd aisle that I went to. Phew!

For my openhouse, I made the instant ketupat for my soto and also to go with the peanut sauce. Peanut sauce is my mom's specialty. Every Raya, she will make peanut sauce. My aunts tried to make it but somehow their's did not turn out quite like my mom's peanut sauce so they just appointed my mom as THE person responsible for peanut sauce. I never did bother to find out how she make her peanut sauce that has became somewhat a legendary until I came here. After a few times of not-quite-like-mom's peanut sauce, this year, luck was on my side and my peanut sauce turned out really well. Just as good as my mom's famous peanut sauce. There are a lot of ways and ingredients to make peanut sauce out there but my mom's peanut sauce only have 5 ingredients and peanut butter is NOT 1 of them. Do try these simple and easy peanut sauce recipe and share with me the result.

Peanut Sauce

24oz (680gm) dry-roasted peanuts, (I use store bought)

3 cups water

1/4 cup sambal oelek (less if you dont like it too spicy)

4oz palm sugar

salt

1. Grind the peanuts in a food processor. Longer if you want a finer peanuts.

2. In a large pot boil the water, sambal oelek, palm sugar and ground peanut. Stir continuosly.

3. Once its boiled, turn down heat and let it simmer. Add in salt and taste. Give a good stir every 15-20min.. This will take a very long time. It took me between 2-2.5hrs to get the right consistency. The peanut and water should combined nicely.

The recipe will give you a lot of peanut sauce. Just freeze the amount that you are not using for later use. Besides ketupat, you can also enjoy peanut sauce with satay or bread or even crackers.

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Eid Open House Menu 1 - Spicy Honey Chicken / Ayam Masak Madu

I know I have been pretty quiet the last 2 weeks. The truth is I had been busy for my Raya Open House last weekend which turned out very well. I got a little bit over board by cooking so many dishes that I ended up forgetting to serve 1 of them which is Fried Beef Satay. I just could not stopped myself from cooking but I am happy that my guests of 11 people enjoyed the food and the company. Rasa Malaysia also came but she left before the photo session started.

Today I am posting 1 of the dishes that I served for my Open House. This means that there are going to be a few more posts coming. Spicy Honey Chicken is 1 of the few dishes that I know how to make when I moved here. It is some sort of a mix and match of sweet & sour chicken and honey chicken that I used to have together with my Briyani Rice. If you are a regular to my blog, you will realise that I use a lot of anise seed, clove, cinnamon stick and cardamon seed in my cooking. This is because I just like the smell that comes out of them when they are being sauteed and also when you reheat them. I promise that you will get complimented for it. *wink*

Spicy Honey Chicken / Ayam Masak Madu

A.
8-10pcs of chicken (bone in)
3 tsp tumeric powder
1.5 tsp salt

B.
1/2 small bottle of sambal oelek
5 shallots
3 garlic
2inc ginger

C.
4-spices (3 star anise seed,6 cloves,6 cardamon & 2in cinnamon stick), rinsed
6 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 cup water
salt
3 tbsp oil
1/2 onion, sliced

1. Marinate the chicken with tumeric powder and salt. Deep fry (slowly) them and keep aside.

2. Grind ingredients in B with a little bit of water.

3. Heat up the oil in the wok and add the 4-spices until fragrant and then saute items B.

4. Add the rest of the items in C and continue stirring.

5. Keep tasting until you get the desired taste and lastly put the chicken in. Stir and serve with white warm rice or briyani rice.

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Malaysian Raya Open House

Open house in America is for people selling their houses but for us, it means opening up our house for family and friends to come over and celebrate the occassion. Be it Raya/Eid for muslims, Chinese New Year for the chinese, Deepavali for hindus or Christmas for christians. Back home even the King/Agong, Sultans and the Ministers would be holding their own respective open houses. They are also open to everybody. Yes, that includes you and me. ;)

Satay Sauce with Cubed Rice

Sweet & Sour Chicken and Chicken Korma

Salad /Acar

So yesterday we went to the Malaysian Hari Raya Open House which was jointly organised by the Malaysian Consulate General in LA and MIFNA. The event was held at a community centre in Lakewood and open to all from 11am to 3pm. It was a rather huge event. We arrived around 12 noon and stayed on until almost 2.30pm so that we could mingle with other Malaysian since we only get to see most of them once a year.

Live band, singing raya songs

Hundreds of people came in their sunday best. It is really nice to see people in their baju kurung/baju melayu (Malaysian traditional attire) and batik. Although a normal sight when you are in Malaysia, it is definitely rare here.

Murtabak

Beef Rendang

I hope you enjoy reading about some of our Malaysian tradition. We are going to have our very own open house soon so please do come back. ;)

Chicken Rendang

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Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri / Eid Mubarak

Tomorrow October 01, 2008 is also Shawal 01, 1429H in the Islamic calendar. It marks the end of Ramadhan (fasting month).

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Muslim, Selamat Hari Raya / Eid Mubarak.

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Kuih Bahulu Recipe

Thank you all for participating in the guessing and choosing game. Yes it is Kuih Bahulu. A traditional Malaysian kuih that can be found mostly during Hari Raya (Eid) or Chinese New Year. They came in various shapes. Sometimes flowery and other times in goldfish shape. And just like durian, I dont discriminate them by their shapes. Mine however look like a tiny acorn according to Michael. And now the image is stuck in my head and so does the movie Ice Age!

As mentioned in my previous post, I had to do something to redeem my failure in making Pandan Chiffon Cake. What better way than making something else that is fluffy, sweet and cute such as kuih bahulu?

For this, I followed the recipe from Rasa Malaysia since her Kuih Bahulu Recipe sounds easy and simple enough to follow. Just what an amatuer like me need and if I can make them, so can you.

Kuih Bahulu
Makes between 30-35 cute little thang

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp butter

1. Pre-heat oven at 375F

2. In a bowl, beat eggs until frosty then add sugar. Continue beating gradually changing from slow to fastest until mixture becomes sticky. About 12-15min.

3. Add vanilla essence and gradually add in the flour and butter. Continue beating for another 10min on high.

4. Grease mould and fill up to 3/4 of the 'holes'.

5. Bake for 15 min.

6. Once done, use a toothpick or wooden skewer to 'pick' them out and lay out on cooling rack.

7. Continue steps 4-6 until all batter are used.

** I do not have the flowery mould that Rasa Malaysia used. I got mine at 1 of the asian supermarket here. Email me if you want to see the picture or if you want to purchase the flowery mould, you can contact Rasa Malaysia.

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

After the kitchen disaster experience with my supposedly Pandan Chiffon Cake, I decided to make these tiny, fluffy, sweet thang.

What are they? Well my friends, that is where you come in and guess. I do however have told a few of you what they are so I would really appreciate if you dont tell. Yet. Ok? But you can still pick which set of pictures should I use for the recipe. I kind of gone a bit too excited about them that I took 2 set of pictures using different props and lighting.

So, come all and join in the fun of guessing game and choosing pictures.

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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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Ramadhan Mubarak & Labor Day

It is a long weekend for the United States for Sept 1 is Labor Day. This year it also coincides with the first day of Ramadhan where all Muslims around the world will be fasting from dawn to dusk for the whole month before celebrating Eid. I am taking this advantage wishing all muslim Ramadhan Mubarak.

This Malaysian-ised baked beans was my favourite when I grew up. I usually have it for breakfast but I think it is also good for sahur (or suhoor or sehri or sahari in other languages) which is an Islamic term referring to the meal consumed early in the morning by Muslims before fasting. It is easy and fast to make.

Baked Beans with Deep Fried Egg

Serves 2-3

1 can baked beans -I used Malaysian made which comes in tomato sauce.

1/2 onion, sliced

1 red chili, sliced

3tbsp ketchup, if you use the regular baked beans

salt & pepper to taste

2-3 eggs, deep fried

2 tbsp veggie oil

1. Deep fry eggs and set aside

2. In a wok or pan, saute the onion, add in the baked beans and lightly stir.

3. Add salt and pepper, taste to your liking

4. Add chili and eggs. Gently stir.

Serves with toast.

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Selamat Hari Merdeka August 31, 2008

Merdeka means freedom in our national language, Bahasa Malaysia or also known as Malay. Today marks 51 years since Malaysia gained it's independence from the British. Petronas apart from being known as one of the biggest oil and gas company in the world, is also known for their award winning advertisement (commercial). The above is their advertisement for Merdeka 2008. It is in Malay but with an English sub-title. The message is very strong (as always!) and I feel that I need to share it with my readers. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Being away from home is not an excuse not to celebrate it. We are having a barbeque session later today and fret not, picture will follow soon. ;)

To all Malaysian out there where ever you are, Selamat Hari Merdeka!

*For information regarding holidaying in Malaysia, please go to Tourism Malaysia.

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Mini Chocolate Covered Cornflakes Cookie

Ingredients

9 oz cooking chocolate
3-4 oz conflakes
2 ozbutter
2 tablespoon honey
Mini paper cups
Colorful rainbow (decorater)

1. Using a double-broiler on low-heat, add in the butter followed by cooking chocolate and then honey.

2. Once the choc has melted, add in the cornflakes and turn off the heat. Stir until all of them are covered with chocolate.

3. Using teaspoon, scoop them into the mini cups and decorate with the colorful rainbow.

4. Let them cool and transfer in an air-tight container.

5. This recipe should make between 45-50 mini cups.

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