Fried Dory Fish Fingers

Christmas is coming! If you are cracking your head over what to prepare for the kids and adult party, this is a simple party dish to try out..

Ingredients:

3 pieces of dory fish fillet (Available from frozen food store)
Sprigs of coriander leaves - chopped
1 piece of 2-inches size young ginger
6 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
Shredded lemon rinds from one lemon
1 egg-beaten lightly
1 packet of bread crumbs
Some flour for coating
Salt and pepper according to taste
Oil for frying

Methods:
1. Wash the dory fish and cut into finger size.
2. Pat dry the fish with kitchen paper.
3. Blend ginger, garlic and shallots into paste.
4. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Add in the blended ingredients as in (3), chopped coriander leaves and lemon rinds and marinade for at least 1 hour before frying.
5. Beat the egg and season with some salt and pepper. Contain it with a plate instead of a bowl for easy coating.
6. Dab the fish finger with some flour before dipping it into the egg.
7. Next, coat the fish finger with bread crumbs.
8. Heat some oil in the pan and fry the fish finger until golden in colour and very crispy.
9. Serve with salad and tartar sauce/lime sauce.

Season the the fish with salt, pepper (black or white), chopped coriander, shredded lemon rinds, ginger, garlic and shallot paste. Do not discard the marinated ingredients as these are added fiber to a meat dish.





Dab in flour, follow by egg and then coat it again with bread crumbs before frying.







Serve with salad greens.

Tang Yuen Festival

This is another festival associated with food- Tang Yuen or glutinous rice ball. I saw Christina mentioned in her blog and learnt about another name for this festival as Dong Zhi or commonly known as "Winter Solstice Festival".

I don't really know the reason for this particular celebration. Literally translated, it is the arrival of winter festival. Definitely it cannot be appreciated by anyone born in this tropical country. Anyway, just like Christmas, we still enjoy eat, drink and be merry. Who cares whether there is any changing season! This festival for most of the years will uniquely fall on 22th of December. I don't know why this year is the exception. Perhaps the person designing the calendar trying to facilitate the working class by making it happen on a Sunday...I wonder..that's very thoughtful of him/her..hahaha! As far as I can remember, this festival has got something to do with one's age. My mom used to tell us children that upon eaten the tang yuen, we will grow one year older. My mom also like to tell me to eat the number of tang yuen in accordance to my age. If I eat too many at one go, I will grow old faster. When I was five year old, I was quite upset by such a rule. Being a gluttonous little eater, five mini size tang yuen is definitely not enough for me. Anyway, when I grew to 12 year-old, I suddenly realised that a dozen of tang yuen is just too much for me to swallow. So I began to asked my mom every time during the Tang Yuen Festival, "mom, can I not eat the tang yuen so that I won't, er....grow old?"

Some Chinese Festivals can be quite ritualistic. My mom is someone who will follow tradition. She will prepare all sort of food according to ritual. However, this year she's unable to roll the tang yuen as my dad has passed away few months' ago. According to the aunties, it is against the principle for one to roll the tang yuen or inaugurate the festival when one of the elder family members passed away in the same year.The reason being that tang yuen is round in shape and signify reunion and this is one thing that our family members are going to miss when my dad is no longer with us this year. I am a little sad when think of this as my mom in law told me that usually as a daughter, it ought to be my duty to make the tang yuen for my mom. However, I have failed to perform this duty today. Anyway, I told myself to replace in another time when I visit my mom.

Traditionally, the tang yuen is made of plain glutinous flour and cooked in sweet syrup made of rock sugar. Some people like to add flavour to the syrup by adding with ginger or osmanthus flower (Taiwanese/Shanghainese Style). Later it developed into variation such as blending in the yam, sweet potatoes or pumpkins. There are some tang yuen with fillings too such as peanut paste, sesame paste, lotus paste or red bean paste. These are the sweet variation. The savoury variation is made popular by the Hakka clan, the fillings are some minced meat with vegetables. As for the Malaysianised version, we have the gula melaka filling just like the onde-onde and the skin is usually flavoured with pandan juice. The syrup is also sweetened with gula melaka instead of rock sugar.

Below is a tang yuen recipe which I experimented. As my family members like the kick from ginger, I have extracted a lot of ginger juice. This soup is very spicy indeed. After drinking it, you will perspire profusely to get rid of any "evil wind" in the body. I believe it will improve metabolic rate and good for one who is about o suffer from a cold. Anyway, the soup that I made was too spicy hot that the kids may not like it. My nephews just eat the glutinous ball and left the soup behind...














Ingredients to make the tang yuen skin:

1. 300g glutinous rice flour (tepung pulut)
2. 2 tbsp rice flour (tepung beras)
3. Some cold and hot water for kneading(you can also add some pandan/screwpine leave juice)

Methods:

1. Take about a quarter of the glutinous rice flour and mix with hot water. This is to make a dough that is half-cooked so it gets stickier a bit and for easy blending.
2. Mix all the flour together including the cooked dough.
3. Mix in enough water and knead to form a smooth soft ball.
4. Make sure the dough in moist enough to roll into a ball (Pic as above).

Ingredients to make the fillings:

1. 250 g of groundnuts
2. 50g of sesame seeds
3. Fine Sugar & salt according to taste
4. Some water to form into balls

Methods:

1. Fry the ground nuts and sesame seed till brownish in colour without use of any oil in the pan. Make sure you keep stirring and tossing in order not to char the surface of the beans.
2. Remove the ground nut skin with the help of a sift.
3. Blend groundnuts and sesame together.
4. Blend sugar into the peanut and sesame paste. I usually blend in sugar gradually as to get the correct sweetness
5. Blend in one tsp of salt.
6. Add in water bit by bit to the consistency which the paste can be formed into a ball (pic as above).

How to make the tang yuen:

1. Take a portion of the dough, about the same size with the ground nut & sesame paste ball.
   
2. Press it into a thin sheet on your palm.
3. Put the paste in the middle.
4. Ensure that the skin covers the whole paste.
5. Roll into balls.
6. You can moist your hand with some water to ensure that there is no crack on the ball.
7. Simmer a pot of water.
8. Throw in the balls.
9. When the balls start to float, it shows that it is cooked.
10. Immerse the ball immediately into a bowl of cooked water at room temperature until it is ready for serving.
    
11. You need to prepare the syrup to be eaten together with the balls.
12. All you need to do is to put in the ball back again into the syrup and let it boil a bit before serving.
    
13. The syrup recipe is simple. Just boil another pot of water, sweeten with rock sugar or gula melaka.
    
14. If you like the extra hot version just like mine, blend the ginger, extract the juice and pour into the syrup.
    

Because of ginger juice is used instead of ginger slices, this soup will look slightly "murky", not as clear as the normal rock sugar syrup or one which slice gingers are used. Anyway, you are guaranteed to sweat it out with this hot soup!

Hong Kong Trip

I was lucky enough to attend yet another incentive trip within the year. Despite the fact that the trip was arranged in the last minute, the itinerary was awesome! Great credit goes to my colleagues Sri and Jynna for making it happened!

This was really a luxurious trip. A vacation that I could never forget. We put up in the 5-star Shangri-la Hotel at Kowloon and had a sumptious poolside buffet dinner at Hong Kong Football club on the first night. The below is the slide shows for pics taken on day-one. For info, juz hold on to the pic to read the captions.

Sea Coconut & Snow Fungus Dessert

This is also another simple dessert which do not require many ingredients. I have omitted "loh hon go" as I do not have another key ingredient -Winter Melon (Dong Gua) to make it like the popular tong shui in Petaling Street-Dong Gua Lo Hon Go. Anyway, this simple tong shui (sweet soup) is equally soothing...

Ingredients:
10 pieces of sea coconuts
10 red dates
Knots of pandan leaves (screw-pine leaves)
Half a pack of candied winter melon (about 5 to 6 sticks)
Some white fungus/cloud fungus/snow fungus
Rock sugar to taste

Methods:

1. Cut the sea coconut into thin slices, discard the old ones which the flesh has solidified as the taste will be enhanced if you solely use the tender sea coconuts to prepare for this soup. You can reserve the old ones to stir fry with other vegetable dishes.
2. Boil the red dates (preferably discard the seed first) with pandan leaves and white fungus until the latter is soften
3. Dump in sea coconuts slices, candied winter melon and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Lastly add in rock sugar.

Learnings:

1. This soup is supposed to provide the cooling effect if the sea coconuts and winter melon are not boiled for too long.
2. It is encouraged to discard the seed of red dates which is believed will get rid of the heatiness effect (pls don't ask me to prove it scientifically but it has been a practice by our grandmothers)
3. Snow fungus is highly recommended food for consumptions by the vain pots who yearn for good complexions. Snow fungus is a type of low calories food and contains the goodness of the most natural form of collagen and is popularly known as vegetarian bird nest. So basically you only need to consume a lot of snow fungus to maintain a fair and supple complexion. This is the poor men's tonic since it can substitute bird nest therefore it has become my favourite food. There are 2 "species" of snow fungus. One is crunchy in texture and another type is jelly-like. The latter will turn gelatine when it is boiled for long and therefore is most suitably used for sweet dessert like the one required in this recipe whereas the crunchy texture type is suitable for preparation of savoury soup.
   
4. This dessert will produce a clear soup and you can only taste the mild sweetness and fragrance from the red dates and pandan leaves since snow fungus and the sea coconuts are quite bland in taste.
   
5. You can turn it into a cold dessert by shaving some ice and mix it into the soup. Just add some honey if it is not sweet enough.

Summer Sponge Cake

This is a light butter cake which is moist and not too oily.

Ingredients:
250g butter
120g castor sugar
4 eggs
250 g plain flour sifted with 3 tsp of baking powder(or can be substituted with self-raising flour)
1 tsp vanilla essence
Half a cup/4 tbsp hot water

Methods:

1. Sift the flour to incorporate more air so that the cake will be light and fluffy.
2. Cream butter and sugar until turning pale in colour.
3. Gradually beat in egg, one at a time.
4. Beat in the flour using low speed
5. Lastly, add in vanilla essence and stir in the hot boiling water to make a soft dropping consistency.
6. Preheat oven to 180C. Bake for 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
7. Dredge with icing sugar (optional).
   

Hong Kong Style Curry Chicken

This is my mother-in-law's specialty. She learned up this recipe from one of her buddies. This recipe is popularly known amongst all the aunties as "Hong Kong Curry Chicken". But after tasting it, I notice the taste is similar to the Macao's famous Portugal Curry Chicken except that it doesn't have too much gravy. By virtue of it's name, you will not find any tropical ingredients such as coconut milk, galangal or even lemon grass which are commonly found in the local curry dishes. The ingredients used are easily available in most of the supermarket all over the world. Of course it is perhaps made popular by the Hongkie as such the name was given. It is more like a curry cooked in Chinese style as the taste is "amplified" by the "tau chu"(Chinese fermented soya bean paste)

Anyway, this is an easy to prepare recipe and it is suitable for anyone who can't tolerate the fieriness of chillies since you can''t find any chilies in this recipe. I will recommend this recipe for any confinement lady as it helps to rid the wind in the body as well as providing the warming effect which is vital for the new mother.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut into small pieces
20 shallots
5 pips of garlics
4 pieces of ginger (about 3 inches per stem-if you like it to be spicier, use the old ginger)
1 tbs of tau chu(fermented bean paste)
1 tsp of turmeric powder

Methods:

1. Blend shallots and garlic together, put aside
2. Blend ginger with 1 cup of water, sift it or press it with a piece of cloth to extract the juice only
3. Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in the pan, fry the blended ingredients, turmeric powder and tauchu together till fragrant.
4. Add in chicken pieces to mix well with the spices.
5. Pour in ginger juice.
   
6. Simmer till the gravy thicken.
7. Serve with plain rice.

Scribbling As Fine Art?

My six-year-old Elgin cannot withstand boredom. I won't consider him a hyperactive child but he sleeps very little as compared to children of the same age. He has never had the habit of taking afternoon nap since year 1. He just love to stay awake and indulge in a lot of stimulation. So he spent most of the time in a day watching TV and start playing computer games since year 3. At age 4, he can remember my mobile number and called me when i was at work. At age 5, started to yahoo messaging with his dad. At age 6 he picked up sms messaging. But his handwriting and drawing remains poor. He also can hardly play a full song eventhough I sent him for musical classes & keyboard lesson since he was 2 years old.

I have the same problems with most of the parents. Being a woman at work, I could hardly spent a good two hour with my son on any working weekday. Sometimes, driven by guilty conscious, I tend to buy my son lots of expensive toys and sign him up with many kinds of child development activities. Hoping that he could spend his time with quality activities and grow up in a quality envorionment. After awhile, I noticed he begin to get sick of everything. When playing computer game and PS game, he always asked me to play with him. At the end, I realised what a child needed the most is the attention of their own parents as the game alone does not provide the interaction they get from human touch.

Elgin, like most of the children too, loves to do scribbling here and there. I am glad to have good parents in law as they managed to train him to be an obedient child since he was a baby. Though he's like many other children with itchy hands, he has never scribbled on the wall. Perhaps, once if I may recalled, when he was four plus. He did an abstract art on my light colored sofa and was given immediate punishment and stern warning. Ever since then he has learnt the lesson that scribbling on things other than paper and drawing board are strictly forbidden in this house.

Some said children who loves to scribble tend to developed to become a less emotional adult as they learnt to vent their feelings. Nevertheless, parents of a child who loves scribbling will tend to become emotional. Especially when the child does it all over the place. Describing scribbling as a fine art is easier said than done for most parents. So to prevent him from scribbling at the forbidden places, we have bought him stacks of plain drawing papers and colour markers.

After seeing what he left on the drawing papers. I begin to believe that scribbling is in fact a fine art for the parents. The art of letting our children indulge in their own imagination. A child does not lie, so does their work..








Sponge Bob Square Pants, one of his favourite cartoon shows.

What he learnt from Mandarin class :han yi pin yin









He loves to play pretend- to be the teacher marking his own homework





and he always made me his student

Chilled Out On The Highlands

In November 2007, our family escaped to Cameron Highlands for a chill-out vacation. We departed about 6am in the morning. Reached Ipoh around 8am to have the famous dim sum at Foh Sun Restaurant and arrived at Cameron Highland around noon.

Whoever is planning for a holiday in CH, I will always recommend the following 3 activities. I don't know about you, but our family always enjoys these activities:

1) Visitation to Tea Plantations
This is one of my most favourite outings. I get addicted to the smell of raw tea leaves. We visited Boh Tea Centre at Sungai Palas on our first day of visit. The next day morning we went to Lipton and the last day before departure, we dropped by the Cameron Valley.
At the tea centre, you will be invited for a free tour to watch how the workers pick and segregate the tea according to the respective grades and quality. You also get to watch how the raw leaves are processed into tasty tea. The last thing that shouldn't be missed is to sip a cup of tea and help yourself with light snacks such as sandwiches and scones. The Sg Palas tea house has gone through a facelift. That reminds that I haven't set my feet on this highlands for almost a decade. The tea house was built with modern architecture, supported with glass and steel structures and is set on a balcony-like platform on the hilltop. If you choose to sit at the far end, you will command a 270 degree view of the tea plantation. You really get to relax and unwind at the tea garden. Psychologically, the cool air couple with the fragrance of the tea leaves make the brains more alert. That was real cool...

2) Visitation to flowers and fruits farms
Basically, you get to feast your eyes with many colourful nameless flowers. You get to drink freshly pressed strawberry juice and pick up one or two bottles of honey.

3) Visitation to the vegetable markets
You get to see different types of uncommon vegetables. The vegetables are not really cheap but the freshness is what you intend to get for a steamboat dinner. I love the sweet potatoes and sweetcorn. Best eaten when steaming hot...in cool weather.

At Cameron Highland, I won't recommend you to go to any of the open-door restaurant, stalls or coffee shops. The flies just pissed me off. However, T-Cafe is an exception. This small eatery is located at Tanah Rata, a few doors away from HSBC. It is above a fast food restaurant (can't remember the name). This is a family run business and they have a variety of local and western cuisine. Their scones are superb and apple pies are very famous. The ambiance is not posh but it makes you feel like home!

Elgin's Art & Craft

Ever since Elgin went to Art & Craft class, he has made this home his own gallery...



He did exhibited the artistic way of sticking up his artwork with cellophane tapes.
Look at the big lump at the right bottom of the pic.

An owl staring at a pair of
Japanese sandal in awe..

A scary faced moth or butterfly?






A sultry faced octopus








Hey! Mom! A cheeky face mouse!

A Smiley Faced Moon

I was half way into my dinner on the first night of Dec08 when I received a call from a friend who asked me to take a look of the moon then as it looked extraordinary. As the saying goes, curiosity could kill a cat.. I walked out from the house instantly gazing at the west and east of the sky but then there was no sight of this extraordinary moon at all. Flushed in anxiety and excitements, I decided to drive out to the nearby field hunting for the moon like a treasure to unveil the mystery.


Smile..and the world will smile back at you





Hey! There you are.. a smiley faced moon. It was such a quirky phenomenon as it has never occurred to me that the moon actually smiling at the world.

Coincidentally two stars were hanging above the moon made the face looked even more comical-it looked exactly like the emotioncon-Smiley. Yet, the gentle and soft glows emitted by the moon and stars filled the air with auspicious mood and blissful energy. It was such a wondrous experience having had a chance to witness this heart-warming scene. It was indeed a celestial sign in a time of gloom and doom and when there's a lot of fear and strife in the world.

Immediately I feel like telling the whole world to catch a glimpse of this smiley faced moon. I rushed home in lightning speed to fetch my family members. However, when I returned to the field in less than 10 minutes, sadly, there was no sign of the smiley face anymore. Thick cloud has covered the moon and stars. This reminds me of the Chipsmore commercial-"now you see it, now you are not!"

That was indeed a manifestation on the theory of impermanence. Somehow we couldn't deny the fact that everything comes into beings through causes and conditions and it illusorily exists. Nothing stays forever and there is nothing that we could hold on to perpetually. Be it an object or feeling and no matter how precious it is towards us. I immediately realised that it was this feeling of disappointment that I must learn to let go of.

Impermanence is taken place every moment. It is always arising, growing and dying. The whole episode of searching for the moon, seeing the moon and seeing the moon disappeared is the manifestations on the process of impermanence. Same goes with the feelings. It was invoked and it is dying off. There was actually nothing to hold on to, be it excitement, joy, sadness or disappointment. Our ordinary eyes can't notice the process of arising and dying. But it is happening every moment. Just like our body cells, it grows, multiplies and turns into dead cells every now and then. So there is really no past or future. The most important moment is always now. Live now and be mindful to watch our speech, action and mind in order not create any unfavorable causes that warrant the unfavorable consequences.

I am so grateful to the smiley faced moon coz it was there to remind me to continue with the path of cultivation.

Metta to all...

Mini Party Pizza

This is a quickie recipe for party-planning.

Ingredients:
Slices of bread, cut into flour. Arrange on pan, moist with some milk, spread with butter.

Suggested topping:-
Some ready-made tomato paste/pasta sauce (you may try out my Multi-Purpose Tomato Sauce recipe)
Some cut fruits (eg pineapple, apple, pear etc)
Some onion rinds
Some sliced vegetable such as capsicum, tomato or mushrooms
Some cubed chicken, sausages, ham, canned tuna fish
Some mixed herbs (optional)
Some slices of cheese (eg mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, Emmanuel cheese, parmesan etc)

It will look like this:











Lastly, bake for 15 minutes in a 180 degree C oven.

Apple Walnut Cake

This cake is a variation which I reinvent from the "Summer Sponge Cake" recipe. This cake is light in fat, low in sugar, high in fiber, rich in nutrition and nutty in texture.

This cake is excellent for the young and old, due to one of the main ingredients used-walnut. This nut becomes popular for it's effect in nourishing the brain & nervous system. If you scrutinize properly, this exotic nut in fact looks remarkably like a mini human brain. No wonder the Chinese always believes that if we take a type of food that resembles a certain organ of our body, it will nourish that particular organ.
Walnut is rich in Omega 3 & 6 which are good fats that help in lifting up your mood and helpful to balance up hormones and the growth of nervous system. I have heard that eating 2 walnuts a day is the beauty tip shared by the most beautiful Indian beauty queen- Aishwarya Rai. So, whoever desires for a beautiful complexion, youthful brain and body, you may indulge yourself with this tiny brain food by trying this recipe out for a start!

Ingredients:
250g butter
120g castor sugar/brown sugar
4 eggs
125 g plain flour
125 g wholemeal flour
3 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 apple, chopped into small pieces
1/2 pear, chopped into small pieces
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
Half a cup/4 tbsp hot water

Methods:

1. Sift both the flour with baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon powder for it to mix well and make the flour more airy.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually beat in egg, one at a time.
4. Beat in the flour using low speed.
5. Mix in chopped walnuts and fruits.
   
6. Lastly, stir in the hot boiling water to make a soft dropping consistency.
7. Preheat oven to 180C. Bake for 30 minutes.

Learnings:

1. I have substituted part of the flour to wholemeal flour to provide the fiber that are essential to enhance our bowel movement.
   
2. The fat contained in walnut is also an excellent natural laxative. Combining the apple and pear, this cake is in fact designed for anyone who wish to detox their system.
   
3. Do not discard the brans from the wholemeal flour. Sifting the flours is to incorporate more air to the flour so that the cake texture will not become lumpy.
4. While the fruits are rather acidic, half a tsp of soda powder is to neutralize the acidic effect. Do not put too much baking soda as it will make the cake bitter.
5. If you wish to omit the wholemeal flour, you may substitute all the flour and baking powder with self-raising flour.
6. Make sure all the eggs are in room temperature for better result. Anyway, if time does not permit you to leave the eggs in room temperature, you just need to warm them with a bowl of luke warm water before using.
7. I have experimented with 2 types of fruits. The pear gives a softer texture. As only half a pear is used, therefore suggested to call it an apple walnut cake.
   

Do not fold in all the nuts. Left some to sprinkle on top of the cake. Do not ground the nuts. Only chop it coarsely as not to lose the chewy effect.








This cake is crumbly because of the brans from the wholemeal flour as well as the coarsely chopped walnuts. Anyway, the pear and apple cubes which have been soften by the heat while baking provide enough moisture to the cake. The aroma from cinnamon make it best to serve warm with tea or coffee. Yummy!

Hawaiian Chicken Pizza

This is another localized pizza recipe. The base and toppings (except for cheese) are 100% home-made.

The recipe for the base is authentically Italian . It is low in both calories and cholesterol. Since milk and butter are omitted, therefore, minus the topping, it is most suitable for the health-freaks and calories-conscious.

Recipe For The Base
250g plain flour
250g bread flour
300g water
2 tsp salt
3tsp sugar
11g dry yeast (ready-packed)
2 tablespoon olive oil

Methods:
1. Blend all ingredients using a mixer or hands.
2. Let it rise for 1 1/2 hour.
3. Divide the dough into 2-3 portion (depending on the pan size), roll out and spread it over the pan.
4. Prick tiny holes using forks on the surface. Let it rest.
5. In the meantime, heat up oven to 180 degrees C for at least 10 min
5. Bake for 15 minutes.

Baking Tips:
1. The original recipe calls for 700g plain flour. I like the base to be softer like the bread texture, so have substituted half of it with bread flour/high protein flour. This is the typical localized version of pizza. The original American or Italian pizza base are all made of normal plain flour which is easier to manage when the dough has risen. Usually the base made of 100% plain flour will be crispier when baked.

2. This recipe will produce 2 large pizza and 1 small pizza. However, if you do not have a double rack oven, you may have to put the remaining dough (cover with damp cloth) in the freezer while baking the first pan of pizza before the dough becomes "over-proven" which will cause the base to become rather dense. I usually make all the base first before spreading the topping. Just make sure you have enough pans to hold up all the dough. Timing for proofing is very important which I have yet mastered. In fact, someone who worked in Pizza Hut told me that any over-proofing dough has to be discarded or the pizza will not turn out well. Usually while the first pizza base is sent to the oven, you can start rolling out the base for the second one. As for the 3rd one, just leave it in the fridge in order that it is not over-risen while waiting for its turn to bake. Sometimes it gotta look at the weather(besides checking your own mood). If you bake during a hot day, the yeast will become hyperactive and react quickly. Anyway, you won't fail easily with this PizzAdventure!

3. Water, you may need more or less the above amount. It all depend on the quality of the flour. Anyway, you may adjust with either adding more flour or water, no harm done.

4. If you do not use up all the base, it can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. Just wrap it with cling firm or plastic wrap.

Pizza Topping:

1 cup tomato sauce (Pls look for the Multi-purpose Tomato Sauce recipe from "All about sauces")
1 green capsicum, sliced/cubed
1 onion, sliced
Some mozzarella cheese & some cheddar, if desired
1 bowl of cubed chicken meat (from breast of one chicken), marinated with turmeric powder, curry powder, pounded garlic and shallots, salt and brown sugar and 1 tbp of oil.
Some pineapple cubes (key ingredient as per the recipe title)
Some dried oregano/mixed herbs

Just assemble everything on top of the pizza and bake at 180 degree C for 15-20 minutes (ensure the chicken is cooked through)

Spread the tomato paste

Green pepper, onion and chicken











Dun forget the cheese











This is the end result

Tomato Rice

This is a one-pot-dish or "yat wok soak" in Cantonese. A quick meal for anyone who doesn't have time to prepare dinner for their family.

Ingredients:
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 shallots, sliced
1 stick of cinnamon
2-3 cloves
3 cardamon seeds
1 small piece of young ginger, make into paste/grind/sliced/pat it flat
1 tsp bryiani rice spices/curry powder/turmeric powder
1 cup of milk
1 knot of pandan leaves
2 stalk of lemon grass
2 tbsp grapeseed oil/olive oil (instead of butter or ghee for a healthier option)
2 cups of long grain rice, washed and drained
1 tsp salt (according to taste)

Method:
1. Heat up the oil, fry onion till soft.
2. Add shallots, garlic, chopped tomatoes and all the spices (except for the powder) till fragrant.
3. Add the rice in and stir for 2 minutes
4. Pour into the rice cooker.
5. Pour the milk in and add enough water to cover the rice.
6. Add in the spice powder and salt.
7. Don't forget the pandan leaves(you can fry together with the rice and then put right away into the cooker) and finally push the Cook button.

Step-by-step guide:
Get ready all the ingredients. Clockwise from top
Chopped tomatoes
Sliced shallots, minced garlic and ginger paste
Sliced onions
Lemon grass (all herbs from my backyard, limited space so it is very 'slim') , cloves(bunga cengkih), cinnamon stick and cardamon seeds
Pandan leaves(in the centre)


Saute onion first. Fgarlic and shallots first








Add in tomatoes, lemon grass and other herbs and spice.









Add rice and continue to stir-fry for 5 min








Pour all the ingredients into the rice cooker, add milk and enough water and salt according to taste








Wanna try some?

Wholemeal Loaf

Another bread-venture...
Another simple to follow recipe..... (basically most of my recipes are meant for the idiots and lazybones)

Ingredients:
450g high protein flour
250g whole meal flour
290g cold milk
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
50g grape seed oil/butter/margarine (up to you)
15g of yeast (apprx 2 tbsp)

Methods:
Mix all, using a mixer of course.
Anyway, mixing with hands are not prohibited.
When the dough is formed, just rest it for 1 hour.
After an hour, punch it down and give at least 10 minutes of kneading and punching.
Look, yeasts are like humans. Warmth make it alive and kicking. You have to treat them with passion. Just let the warm of our hands to give the dough few minutes of massage and you can see the dough swell gradually (dun think otherwise)
Grease a 9x9x5 inches bread pan (1 large loaf size) and throw the dough in
Let it rise for another 30minutes or until double in size
Preheat oven to 200 degree C for at least 8 min before putting the pan in.
Bake for another 25min or till the surface turned golden brown.
The bread is cooked when it shrink a little.


This bread has a light and soft texture despite it is weighed down by the wholemeal flour. I just love tapping on it to hear the hollow sound when it's done.

Best eaten when toasted!

Multi-Purpose Tomato Sauce

I went to my fren's Deevali open house 2 weeks ago and have tasted this wonderful tomato sauce. The recipe was a hand-me-down from the family's grand parents. Obviously it's a trade secret as the family was mummed about revealing the secret ingredients despite my many rounds of hinting and probing. Eager to find out the ingredients contained in this secret recipe, I walloped quite a large amount of this sauce with the bryiani rice. I ended up eating more tomato sauce than the rice and mutton curry! I believe my effort didn't go in vain as I managed to "catch" the taste of the ingredients used. Surprisingly it didn't taste spicy like the typical Indian style of tomato chutney. The sweetness is unpretentious, for you can tell that the natural sweetness was actually came from the tomatoes. The mild sourish taste made the sauce even more appetizing. I can't but to say that this tomato sauce is really superb!

I have decided to experiment out the tomato sauce recipe. Anyway, I have modified the recipe a little to suit my own preference. The original recipe uses purely tomato, onion and some cashew nuts. I believe the secret lies with the oil - which is ghee, one of the Indians' favorites. Ghee or clarified butter is really not my type of oil as it's rather fattening despite the fact that it makes the food taste good. So you will not find this item in my following recipe:

Tomato Sauce Recipe:
6 red tomatoes (the riper the better as it is sweeter)- Chopped 2 tomatoes and puree the remaining 4 into paste.
1 big onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red capsicum/bell pepper(any colour will do), chopped into cubes
Sugar and salt according to taste.

Methods:
1. Heat 2 table spoon of cooking oil in the pan.
2. When the oil is hot, stir fry the onion till it becomes soft.
3. Add minced garlic
4. Add in capsicum and chopped tomatoes and continue to stir fry till fragrant.
5. Pour in the tomato puree.
6. Simmer till the mixture thicken and all the vegetables become soft.
7. Add sugar and salt to taste

Simmer....

Done!

Well, if you don't like the chunky texture, just add a little bit more water and simmer till all the ingredients become very soft. I basically don't like to puree it further as this will end up taste like baby food..You can also add some other chunky vege such as carrots, celery or courgettes. If you like it to taste more like kwai-lo style, sprinkle with some mixed herbs, black pepper or dried oregano to give the extra zing.

This sauce is simple to make and I call it multi-purpose tomato sauce for many reasons:-
1) It's an excellent spread for toast bread, chappati, naan and pizza
2) Mix it with some fried minced meat and transform it into a tasty bolognaise sauce for pasta of all types.
3) Can't finish? Store it in the fridge and make it a dipping sauce for tacos, keropok and small cheesedale cracker biscuits.
4) Having left-over chickens and meatballs from last nite's dinner? Just pour this sauce over to become a new dish.
5) It makes an excellent gravy for nasi bryani or plain rice and kids love it coz it's mildly sweeten.

The list goes on.. I believe for the sole reason that any homemade sauce is 100% original and free from any preservative is good enough to convince anyone to DIY this sauce at home. My next experiment is to make this sauce into homemade chili sauce so that I can say bye to Maggi or Kimball or Ayamas. Well, the outrage about Chinese melamine usage has no doubt a major fear factor for many. Sadly,our government has failed to scrutinize on how much this chemical has pervaded our food system. So you can't blame me for becoming paranoia after the breaking news. All of you I believe are like me nowadays. Fear of canned food, fear of biscuits, fear of bread and cakes with extended shelf life, fear of preserved vegetable and cured meat...and finally, fear of China! Not so much about their earthquakes, but food...

Pizza Mania

This is a simple Malaysianised pizza recipe for whoever wish to venture it at home . The dough is 100% homebaked. This recipe is enough to make two 9-inch pan pizza, similar to 2 large size pizza from Pizza Hut:

Pizza Dough
250g high protein flour/bread flour
250g plain flour/wholemeal flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp dry yeast
2 tbsp butter
50g virgin olive oil
200 ml chilled milk
1/2 tsp salt

There are 2 methods to make the dough. The first method is pretty simple coz it is all automatic. That is provided you have a breadmaker. All you have to do is to follow the below steps closely:
1. Measure all ingredients accurately.
2. Throw everything into the breadmaker.
3. Select 'dough"
4. Press "start".

Normally the cycle will end about 1 hour 35min including proofing time, depending on your machine. Anyway, I don't need to elaborate on this further cos breadmachine is meant for dummies and the lazybones (which i am one of them..hehehe!).

Herewith the "orangmatic" methods for the gungho ones:

1. Sift both flour and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.
2. Mix in butter and yeast.
3. Pour in milk gradually and mix well to form a soft n pliable dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly flour surface and knead well until smooth and elastic.
5. Lightly grease a bowl and place the dough in.
6. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise until dough is double in size.

Bake the Base
Once the dough is risen, punch it down and let it rise for the second time. Grease a pizza pan. Roll out the dough into 1/2 cm thick to make the pizza base. Place on lightly grease trays or pizza pan and allow it to rise slightly. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil (optional). Prick with a fork on the surface of the dough. This is to ensure that the pizza base will remain in shape after baking. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius for 10 min. Bake the dough for 10-12 minutes.

Instant Pizza Topping
1 big onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can Ayam brand tuna mayonnaise spread
2 cups pasta sauce
Grated mozzarella cheese

When the pizza base is ready, spread a layer of pasta sauce over the half-cooked pizza base; follow by the tuna mayonnaise spread. Scatter the chopped tomatoes and onions and grated mozzarella cheese and bake at 200 degrees C for 17 minutes until the sides of the pizza and the cheese turns golden brown.

Topping- Before Baking













Topping - After Baking

Universal Protection Mantra

Today is Kuan Yin Pu Sa(Goddess of Mercy /Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva)'s Renunciation Day, the day that marks her entering into the nunnery. Early in the morning, there are already many devotees crowed the temples to pay homage and appeal to this Great Lord, who is the Bodhisattva of great compassion, mercy and love who wons the hearts of countless people.

By virtue of Kuan Yin's infinite power, he is capable of regarding the cries of the people whether these represent either desire or suffering, delivering them through the wisdom of skillful means, and appearing in the form suitable to those to be saved. This noble Lord is thus the "savior" who may assume the form of a Buddha, Bodhisattva, god or any other forms, either male or female, in order to fulfill his task of mercy.

One of Kuan Yin's most famous and compassionate forms is that of the "thousand-arms-thousand-eyes". In this form, Kuan Yin has eleven heads and a thousand hands, with extra eyes on the palms of each hands. Legend has it that he was contemplating the task of working for the safety and happiness of all sentient beings when his head split into a thousand pieces upon realizing the enormity of such an undertaking. Amitabha Buddha, who is Kuan Yin's spiritual father, quickly came to the rescue and restored Kuan Yin to life and also gave him this form. Thousand eyes thus symbolize the all-seeing nature of Kuan Yin's compassion while thousand arms represent the ever-present and all-compassing nature of his help.

In the Lotus Sutra (one of the most famous sutra for Mahayana Buddhist), the Buddha said that anyone who calls upon Kuan Yin will be delivered instantly from all his sufferings. By virtue of his supernatural power, he is able to save all living beings from all kinds of danger, give them what they want and preach freely by appearing in whatever form that suits the nature of the faithful. To call for Kuan Yin's help, one needs only to humbly and sincerely recite her name continuously or one may reitce her mantra of Universal Protection:
"OM MANI PADME HUM"

This is a powerful mantra. If someone with grave problems or even demonic obstructions recites the above mantra, the problem will disappear or the demon will run away. Kuan Yin's response can be instant or slightly delayed, it all depends on one's karmic influence at that moment of prayer and the intensity of faith in the calling.

Miracles of Kuan Yin answering the fervent prayers of those who called upon her name is countless. Here is the true account of happenings of which were my personal testimonial of the above mantra and Kuan Yin's mystical power:

My son was admitted to hospital 2 years ago. For convenient sake, we have requested for a single room. It was merely few minutes past 11pm. My hubby took leave after my son has fallen asleep while I stayed back to observe my son's condition over that night. As it was a private ward, the hospital had prepared another bed for the comfort of the caregiver. I wasn't quite remember if that was the ordinary hospital bed or a sofa bed. Recalling some of the creepy encounters which my friends used to talk about when sleeping on a hospital bed, ie haunted by an unwanted visitor who loves to left its weight on their chest, I have decided not to sleep flat on the bed. Instead, I have chosen to rest on my side with my head facing my son who was sleeping at another bed next to me.

I switched off the bedside lamps and left the light at the dressing table on so that I would be able to take glimpses of my son while he was asleep. Right as I was about to fall asleep, I got a sensation of a pair of hands coming from my back. Apparently, someone was giving me a rear bear hug!! The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I forced open my eyes. I knew instantly that it wasn't a dream as I was able to see my son who was sleeping at the other bed. I was also able to hear the sounds made by the nurses outside. For it was private room, the nurse station was in fact just a few steps away from the room.

Soon I realized that I couldn't move my body and head. I yelled and yanked but no sound was heard. The more I tried to struggle, the arms that grabbed around my chest got tighter and I was frantic panicked sensing that I have difficulty in breathing! In that trying moment, I recalled of Kuan Yin's great mercy and focus my mind to recite the mantra. As soon as I mentally uttered "Om Mani Padme Hum", the tight sensation around my chest snapped out almost instantly!

After this incidence, I have applied the same technique, i.e reciting this mantra in a few subsequent accounts of sleep paralysis attack and it has never failed to give me instant calmness. Since then, I have even stronger faith towards this Bodhisattva and His miraculous mantra.

It was believed that if you chant this mantra continuously and sincerely for 1,000 times, any beings surrounding you will also get the blessing and will be liberated from their present lower realm and obtain a human body. This is the benevolent selfishness, a trait that all Buddhist must practice to develop a deeper compassion from within. As we live not just for the purpose to liberate ourselves but also wellness of all beings for them to be free from this deep sea of sufferings too.

Om Mani Padme Hum!

Mom & Babe Talk - Stupid Mom

Babe got mad with me when I didn't fulfill his whims and fancy. As usual, I made don't know and left him alone in the room to throw his tantrum. He sprinkled talcum powder all over the floor and wrote me a short note on a small piece of paper:

Mom, you are very stupid

On the reverse side of the paper, he wrote:

You are stupid becos why you don't want to buy for me PS2 CD game?

I kept cool and pretended as though I don't understand the meaning of the notes he wrote. Receiving no response from me, he came near me and asked if I read the notes on the reverse side of the paper. Rebelliously, he continued to tell me the reason he threw talcum powder on the floor was to make me slip down since I didn't keep my promise. He was really plucking on my nerve and testing my patience. Sure enough, I left a tight slap on his left cheek and reprimanded him for being disrespectful to his mom.

He said sorry to me after crying for 10 minutes. Doubted if his apology was sincere, i asked him if he knew why I got upset with him.

"Because I said you are stupid" He happily answered, thinking that I have forgiven him
"What else?" I probed further. In fact, what really upset me was his revengeful thought of making me slip.
"I can't even remember..by the way mom, did I spell the word stupid correctly?"

Steamed Cod Fish

Cod fish has a mild flavor and very fine in texture. This fish is more oily as compared to other local fish and the oil is rich in DHA & Omega 3 fatty acid. Both of which are good for brain development and for prevention of aging diseases such as dementia. This fish is always sold in very "user friendly" sizes and shapes. There is no hassle in cutting, washing and deveining and as such is excellent for a amateur cook like me. It's an excellent dish for kids and aged peoples too.

I bought 2 big cutlets of cod fish from our nearby frozen food store. It was not very expensive, cost about RM36. Cheaper than getting it from any supermarket. At the same time, the shop-owner taught me how to differentiate the genuine cod fish then the "imitation" ones. Apparently, there are some fish with an outer appearance like cod fish skin and the flesh is also whitish in colour. The genuine cod fish's body is rounder and the flesh is more whitish.

Cod fish takes very short time to defrost. So you can defrost the fish in the lower part of the fridge about 2-3 hours before cooking. As I am not good with fish, I have left this honourable task of fish preparation to my mom in law. She marinated the fish with some Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil and soy sauce. Before steaming, just lay some scallions and shredded ginger on top. In fact this fish can be steamed without any marination as the flesh is very sweet and tasty.

This is the picture of the fish before putting into the steamer.














I can't produce the picture of the fish after it's cooked. You know what? My father in law toppled the plate before serving it on the table (Boohooohooooo......)
At the end, only half a piece of cod fish flakes on the plate...