Nasi Ulam

Hello World!  I am back to "Blog a recipe".  Yeah!  It's been a long time, too long!  I usually try to cook from scratch so cooking like this for some people can be a stressful experience.  For me personally, I enjoy the dynamics and I am blessed with my maid who helps out with the things I don't like to do, especially washing and cleaning up!

My style of cooking is usually flexible, which means that I really don't have accurate measurements (although I really try to) and when one ingredient is not available at hand I usually just try to innovate!  Sometimes it doesn't work but most times the results can be surprising.

I made "nasi ulam" for dinner last night.  First thing to do is to fry one whole coconut in the wok until it's dry and brown.  There's no need to add any oil.

Below is the ready fried coconut.

Here below are the ready cut "ulam".  Clockwise from the top is a dish of de-boned fried fish, daun limau perut, fried coconut, pounded dried  prawns, parsley, basil, cekur leaves, mint leaves, bunga kantan, tumeric ginger, chopped shallots.

In the inner circle anti-clockwise are salted fish (pounded), tumeric ginger leaves, sage and terragon.

This is one and a half cups of Germinated Brown Rice, spread out in a large tray to cool before use.

The final mix after adding lots of pepper!

 

 The taste is as good as the number of ingredients you can find inside.  Most people would say it's too much work and ridiculous to put in so many different types of herbs.  I beg to differ.  The sambal belachan on the side adds on the spiciness to the nasi ulam.

The number of herbs can be greatly reduced but I took all these from my garden except for the bunga kantan.  Although I have the plant, it has yet given bloom to anything so far. :(

If there is left overs for the next day, keep the nasi ulam in a box and leave in the refrigerator.  Bring it out and leave on the table at least one hour before you intend to eat.  Do not heat up!  The nasi ulam will still be delicious!

ABC Soup

To make ABC soup in the Magic Pot, you require:

Ingredients:
*1 whole carrot - skinned and cut

*2 onions - peeled and cut into half

*2 potatoes - skinned and cut 

1 chicken drumstick

*You can add or lessen the vegetables (carrots, onions, potatoes)  depending on the size!

2 onions, 1 carrot and 2 potatoes

1 piece chicken drumstick

Boil some water in a separate pot

Fill the insert of the Magic pot 3/4 way with water and bring to boil

When the water comes to a boil in the separate pot

Blanch the chicken drumstick

When the water boils in the insert pot...

Remove the blanch chicken from the separate pot

Add the chicken into the boiling water in the insert pot

This is the insert pot boiling with the chicken inside!

These are the vegetables which we are going to put into the insert pot

All the vegetables and chicken are in the insert pot, awaiting it to come to a boil again

Put on the timer for 5 minutes and allow the soup to simmer

When the 5 minutes is up

Skim off any scum with a ladle

Cover the insert pot

Insert into the external Magic Pot

Viola! Soup will be delicious in 6-7 hours time

Just add some salt to taste!


You can add some tomatoes and pounded pepper balls in for a tangy and spicier version!


Enjoy!

Mama's Special Fried Rice

According to Beatrice, this tastes as good as it does at Mum's Place Restaurant!


Ingredients:
(Clockwise) one bowl of rice, pepper, shoyu/kichap, oil, one egg and measuring spoons.

Measuring spoons from left to right (top to bottom)

• one table spoon (Tbsp)
• one tea spoon (tsp)
• half tea spoon
• quarter tea spoon

Recipe:
1 bowl of (overnight rice, if fresh rice is used, it has to be cold and not sticky)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp shoyu/kicap a.k.a. "see yau" (to taste)
pepper to taste

Method: Watch Video

Caesar Salad

Recipe and instructions from here:

But...we improvised because we used what we had available at home.

Rachel and I made Caesar Salad yesterday. We're trying to 'eat healthy'. While eating the salad, Rachel commented "Mum, look at the amount of oil we are consuming". "Haiz NVM only la" was my response!

Ingredients

Put into a hand blender

Yummy Anchovies

Add egg yolk

Blender it all together

Blender till frothy

Leftover EVOO, add chopped garlic

Mix in the cubed day old sliced bread

Garlic EVOO crutons from the oven

Salad ready to be dressed!

Topped with dressing and more Parmesan Cheese!!

Spicy fried brinjal

Prepare chili mix:
3 sun dried chilies
10 shallots
a knob of fried belachan
Pound all the above together. There will be more than sufficient so keep the rest in the freezer for future use.

Ingredients:
2 small brinjals
oil
sugar
black sauce

Method:

1. Slice the brinjal diagonally about 1 cm.
2. Oil a wok and fry till soft.
3. Saute the 1 tsp of chili mix (top) and add thick black sauce and sugar. Turn off the fire.
4. Toss in the fried brinjal. Serve hot.
   

Char Yoke

Ingredients:
A
500g lean pork (with skin and little fat also can) - "seong yoke"
1/2 piece of Nam Yue
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp of cooking rice wine
1 tsp oyster sauce
a dash of pepper

B
1 egg white
1 tbsp flour

2 pieces black fungus - slice in strips

Method:

1. Cut pork into cubes and marinate with "A" overnight.
2. When ready, mix 1 egg white with 1 tbsp of flour together with marinated pork.
   
3. Heat up a wok and some oil for frying. Fry until almost cooked.
   
4. In another kuali, add two tbsp of oil and 1 tsp garlic - fry.
   
5. Smash one piece "Nam Yue" and add to the oil to fry.
6. Add the sliced black fungus and pork.
7. Add one rice bowl of water and simmer until soft.
8. Add a squirt of dark sauce when almost ready.
9. Taste and add "Nam Yue" gravy from bottle.
   

Clay pot Rice

I cooked this for dinner last night and had raving reviews. Forgot to take a snap picture of it and decided to record that recipe and future ones in a new blog which I began this morning.

Ingredients:
250-300g of meat (pork or chicken fillets)
2 Chinese sausages (Lap Cheong)
2 1/2 cups of rice (measuring cup which came with the rice cooker)
2 slices of ginger - julienned
1 tsp of chopped garlic
6 slices of approximately 5 inches long of "Mui Heong" salt fish
2 tsp of corn flour
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp of sesame seed oil
1 tbsp of Shao Hsing Chinese Cooking wine
Light soy sauce
Thick black sauce
Ground white pepper
3 1/4 cups of water (measuring cup which came with the rice cooker)
A hand full of fried shallots

Method:

1. Slice meat into thin slices.
2. Marinate with 1 tbsp of shoyu and 1 tbsp of thick black sauce. Add 2 tsp of corn flour and a dash of ground white pepper. Set aside in the fridge to marinate for about an hour.
3. Slice the "Lap Cheong" diagonally into thin slices.
4. Wash rice and set aside in a basket to drain.
5. Add the 1 tbsp of cooking oil and 1 tbsp of sesame seed oil in a kuali/wok and fry the chopped garlic and julienned ginger.
6. Then fry the marinated meat slices and then add the sliced "Lap Cheong" and fry till it looks shriveled.
7. Push aside the meats to make space in the middle of the wok for the oil to flow back into the round bottom. Fry 3 slices of "Mui Heong" salt fish and then toss the meats together.
8. In a separate pan, fry the rest of the 3 slices of "Mui Heong" salt fish lightly and place on small a metal dish/plate, together with the oil.
9. Add 3 1/2 cups of water to the meat/salt fish mix and bring to boil for about 3 minutes.
10. Taste the stock and if need be, flavor with light soy sauce and pepper. Enhance color by adding thick soy sauce.
11. Pour washed rice into a clay pot and top with the liquids and lastly the meats.
12. Sprinkle a hand full of fried shallots and bring liquids to a boil in the clay pot.
13. Place the metal dish/plate of fried salt fish on top of the rice to steam with the clay pot cover closed. Cook on low fire for 8 minutes. Do not open the cover until ready to serve.
14. Cut some chili padi/bird's eye chili pepper

NOTE:

• Quantities of water, temperature and ingredients used will contribute to the flavor and texture of the Clay pot rice.
• I've taken the liberty to link some terms and ingredients to explain and depict the items mentioned for easy reference.
• Variance - for a different flavor each time, you may add Shitake mushrooms, fried Yam cubes, fried dried prawns (har mai), a raw egg, top with cashew nuts, spring onions or even Chinese parsley.