My collection of favourite recipes..tried and tested!
We decided to have Malaysian food yesterday. I had never cooked stir-fried beef before and got it right but this method really works. The beef is succulent and not dry and hard. The rice vinegar is a good substitute for rice-wine and you can’t taste …
I spent Chinese New Year day this year at Vivian’s gorgeous house in Bukit Jelutong. She had a great concept for her special guests that day – hawker food freshly prepared! She had made her signature dish of Sarawak Laksa and then freshly fried Char …
I watched Mummy make her chicken rendang many times but never really paid attention! Then I wondered why, when I made the rendang according to her recipe, it never turned out right. I finally decided, one day, when I wanted to make chicken rendang to accompany my nasi lemak, that I should call her AND get her to tell me the exact “HOW” she made her rendang.
Then I made it exactly the way she described and voila, except for the colour maybe, it turned out really good..just the way Mummy makes it! Perfect for my nasi lemak and probably goes just as well with ketupat for Raya.
INGREDIENTS
1 chicken (or 1 kg chicken pieces)
10 – 15 dried chillies
6 shallots or 1/2 a small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 lemongrass
Thumbsize fresh ginger
Thumbsize galangal (lengkuas)
1 tablespoon kerisik
3 – 4 leaves daun limau purut
1 daun kunyit
Milk of one fresh coconut (50 gms coconut powder mixed with 500 ml water)
3 tablespoons Canola oil
DIRECTIONS
If using a whole chicken, remove skin and cut into 16 pieces. Clean and drain the chicken.
Cut the dried chillies into 1” pieces and soak for 10 mins in hot water. Remove the top fibrous part of the lemongrass and cut the rest into 1” pieces.
Drain the dried chillies. Peel onions, garlic, galangal and ginger and cut into small pieces.
Tie the daun kunyit into a knot and use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the daun limau purut into thin slices. Put aside.
Place dried chillies, onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and galangal and 1/2 cup water in a blender and blend the ingredients.
Heat the oil in a wok and fry the blended ingredients. Mix well and leave to simmer on medium heat until fragrant and the oil separates. Add half of the coconut milk, mix well and lower the heat.
When the mixture thickens and you see the oil again, add the chicken pieces and salt to taste. Mix well. When the chicken is half cooked, add the daun kunyit and daun limau purut. Add the balance of the coconut milk little by little so that you have just the right amount of gravy. You may not need to use all the balance.
Add the kerisik, mix well, and cook until the chicken is well-done and the gravy thick.
Served hot with plain rice, ketupat or nasi lemak.
INGREDIENTS For the soup: 1/2 chicken, bone-in 2 small carrots 2 medium-sized potatoes 1 small ripe tomato 1 “sup bonjot” spice sachet Salt to taste For the saute: 3 – 4 shallots 2 cloves garlic 15 gms mix of local (Malaysian) celery, stalks and leaves …
INGREDIENTS
1 medium-sized shoom (a Kuwaiti fish – but any fish will do)
3 – 4 cloves garlic
Thumb size fresh ginger
4 – 5 fresh chillies
1/2 cup Canola oil for deep-frying
Thai fish sauce
Maggi all-purpose seasoning
DIRECTIONS
Wash the shoom well, then cut slits diagonally on both sides of the fish. Blend the chillies, garlic and ginger with some water till well-pureed.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the fish till both sides are crispy. Drain the fish and discard all the oil. In the same pan, heat 2 tbsp canola oil on medium heat and fry the chilli mixture.
When aromatic, add a couple of dashes of Thai fish sauce and Maggi all-purpose seasoning and mix well. Don’t let it dry up too much.
Pour this sambal over the fish and serve hot with rice or vegetables.
