Shrimp & Dried Anchovies Fritters a la Marina (Cucur Udang a la Marina ;P)

excellent snack.. 

I remember my first attempt to make fritters... i was doing my English preparation course at a University in California. I met my first boyfriend there.. and wanted to impress him with my ermm cooking skills.. I lived in the dorms. So all 50 something girls shared both the kitchen and the TV.. :D My roommate then was a Malaysian girl too.. she always made these fritters and we'd have them while watching tv at the lounge with the other residents. I've seen and sometimes helped her out making 'em fritters so I thought.. I could make it too. hahaha boy I was wrong. they turned out uncooked, and with every bite you can see the flour.. OMG it was a disaster! hahaha it was embarrassing then. but now it's just hilarious.. It's been 17 years? boy time flies.. I'm older now... much older... am not in any relationships right now.. but I sure can cook :D But despite my failed attempt at cooking these fritters back then.. It's not that hard to make. My mistake then was that I didn't stir the batter well enough, and the pan was too hot. otherwise it would have turned out great ;p

I made shrimp fritters as I had shrimp. You may substitute it with dried anchovies if you had too. For this recipe I used both shrimp and dried anchovies. You can even make it a vegetarian dish and simply omit all seafood in it. I've never tried it with calamari, crabmeat or any other meat for that matter. Perhaps because mum has always used either shrimp, dried shrimps or dried anchovies for this recipe that I never even thought of using any other protein for this dish.

Usually I make these fritters with just shrimp or dried anchovies and onions/spring onions/chinese celery .. I sometimes add corn kernels and potatoes.. but I usually boiled the potatoes first because the batter cooks so quickly that sometimes the potatoes turn out raw. Then recently I watched Masterchef Malaysia's masterclass, where Chef Jo showed his take on this recipe. He cut it into strips.. so that it cooks much faster.. so I tried that.. and I found that I don't have to cook the potatoes before adding it into the batter.. :) cool!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp rice flour (optional - this makes it slightly crispy on the edges)
shrimp (cleaned, deveined)
dried anchovies (fried)
1 potato (cut into strips)
carrot (cut into strips) - same amount with potato
chinese celery - sliced (optional)
onions sliced
fresh chili  (seeded and cut into strips)
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup water


3 cups oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Add all ingredients together. Pour the water little by little until you get the consistency of a pancake batter. 
2. Heat oil in a wok.
3. Drop spoonful of batter into hot oil and fry until golden. Drain with paper towels. 
4. Serve with chili sauce :) yumssss

yummy... 

Easy Fried Vermicelli (BeeHoon Goreng)

Right now I'm so into this game I found on facebook that I don't want to spend too much time preparing for my food LOL. This recipe is perfect for such times.. you know when you're occupied with other .. things :), when you need some easy to make recipes. It's great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper... This recipe took me probably about 1/2 hour, and most of the time spent was on preparing the ingredients.

I'm using Rice Vermicelli for this recipe. If you don't have BeeHoon around, you can substitute the noodle with those cellophane noodles or Tunghoon.. I always have BeeHoon around .. it's dry, can be kept for a long time, and it's easy to cook.You may substitute it with yellow noodle.. but only if you absolutely have to.. :p

The recipe below is for 2-3 persons. But I can finish it all on my own thank you very much.. I guess that's why I look the way I am now.... :p

Ingredients:

3 cups of rice vermicelli (blanched in hot water for 1 minute and no more)
onion - sliced
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
3 tbsp chili paste (blend your favorite chili into a paste - I simply used chili boh)
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
2-3 tbsp water
Some celery leaves & spring onions - chopped
salt
pepper
3 tbsp oil for cooking

for garnishing - a one egg omelet - sliced thinly

Method:

1. Heat the wok. It's easier to use the wok to make this dish. Add in oil. 
2. Once the oil is heated through, add sliced onions. On medium heat, cook onions until they are translucent. Add garlic. Keep stirring and make sure that the garlic doesn't burn. 
3. Add chili paste. Let simmer for 1 minute .. add all the other sauces - sweet soy sauce, ketchup and also water. 
4. Let the sauce simmer for 1 minute, add the blanched beehoon. Make sure the beehoon is well coated with the sauce. Add salt, and pepper to taste. 
5. Turn heat low, and keep stirring. Add the celery leaves and spring onions. Stir well. We'd like to have that fresh taste the two ingredients give to this dish. When the sauce is fully seeped into the beehoon, turn off heat. 
6. Serve with egg :)

Cooked Beehoon goreng with egg :)

Enjoy cooking!

Ketam Masak Lemak a la Marina (Crab curry)

mmm.... yummy 

Actually I'm not sure what this dish is called in English. I'm calling it curry because I saw someone called it curry on tv. Anyway... it's a Malay dish but I don't have all the ingredients required (of course) so I had to do it with whatever is available.

The recipe actually calls for coconut milk. It'll be more flavorful with coconut milk. But I don't keep any at home. I replaced it with low fat milk. Serves the purpose not as nice .. The real recipe also has a bunch of other stuff .. which I don't even know.. So I just go with what I know and I thought would be good in it.. :)

I'm not sure where this dish originated.. but it's really famous in Negeri Sembilan.. and some parts of Melaka. They make it really hot though.. My mum and grandmother don't make it too hot.. In fact I only remember eating "masak lemak" that's mild.. really mild.. like if you can rate the heat from 1 to 10, it'd be a 0. I guess it goes back to what Chasing the Yum's Chef said about taste and flavor.. It's about balancing the flavors and highlighting what you like. :)

Since the crabs I had at home are not really fresh.. (I'm so gonna be scratching tonight) .. so I decided to add fragrance of kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and some heat from bird chilis (lots ... about 6) and ginger. :D These ingredients are easily available in Malaysia.. I'm not sure about other places but when I lived in Pittsburgh way back when ;) I could find these ingredients at Oriental stores.. easy :D

I buy lots of kaffir lime leaves, I don't use all... I use maybe 1 or 2 and keep the rest in the freezer .. the kaffir lime leaves stay fresh in the freezer. so would "daun pandan" or screwpine leaves.. I'm not sure about other herbs though.. hmm.. perhaps I should try other types of leaves and see how they fare in the freezer :D

Anyway..... here's the recipe.. give it a try :)

Ingredients

1 Crab -  cleaned and quartered. (I also used the back of the knife to hit the claws of the crab.. it makes it easier to eat the crab and the curry to seep in :) yums)

Simply delicious

onions sliced
1-2 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 inch ginger - sliced
5-6 bird chili - minced
2 kaffir lime leaves - sliced thinly
lemongrass - sliced
2-3 tbs turmeric powder  - coat the crab with the turmeric powder
1 cup of low fat milk
1 cup of water
Oil for cooking
salt for seasoning






Method

1. Heat the pan.
2. Add oil into the heated pan. I used a small milk pan, and I needed about 2-3 tbsp of oil.
3. Saute the onions, then add garlic, ginger and chili in the pan. Saute for about 1 minute at medium heat. Stir occasionally.
4. Add kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. Saute for 1 minute. Stir. 
5. Add the crab coated with turmeric powder. Stir for about 1-2 minutes. 
6. Add low fat milk and water. Simmer for a few minutes until the crab is cooked. Season with salt. 
7. Serve warm with rice. 

Makaroni Bakar (Baked Macaroni)

just the way I love it :)

Baked Macaroni is actually an altered Mac&Cheese. But unlike the classic Mac & Cheese it incorporates Malaysian flavor.. using curry paste for seasoning.

This Baked Macaroni dish is actually my sister, Ica's favorite dish. It's so simple to make and it took me less than an hour to whip up the dish. I think I spent more time waiting for it to bake .. :) All it needed was some kind of pasta... since it's called baked macaroni, the pasta would of course have to be macaroni hihi :) but it's really up to you.. you may also use other types of pasta. it's ok. no worries. I used minced meat.. because of the seasoning that I use for this recipe, I prefer minced meat. chicken may be a good alternative ... :)  I also used mixed vege because that's the only vege I had available in my very single home kitchen :p Mum always add celery. I love it for the extra crunch and a little bit of kick :)

I used shredded cheddar cheese for this recipe. But feel free to use your own cheese mix. Parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella would be nice also .. oooo yumms :) You'd need an oven for this dish.. and a little bit of time on the stove. :) sounds tedious? mm... it'll be worth it.. :D

Ingredients: 

1 cup macaroni 

1/2 cup (or more ;)) minced meat - properly defrosted 

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables 

onions - diced

garlic - minced

2-3 tbsp curry powder mixed with 1/2 cup water - use more curry powder if you'd like it hotter

oil for cooking

salt to taste

pepper for seasoning

2 eggs - beaten

2/3 cups of milk - i used low fat milk

1 cup of cheddar cheese shredded

Method: 

1. Cook the macaroni as per on the package instructions. Toss and set aside.
2. Heat pan. Use a pan large enough to mix in the cooked macaroni. Add cooking oil. Saute the onions, and after a minute, add the minced garlic. use medium heat
3. When the onions have wilted, stir the curry powder mixture and let simmer for about 2-3 minutes.. stir occasionally so it doesn't stick to the pan.
4. Add the minced meat. Mix it well with the curry paste and stir occasionally until the meat is browned. 
5. Add the mixed vege. Stir occasionally until cooked. Season it with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat
6. Stir in the cooked macaroni. Mix thoroughly until the macaroni is covered with the minced meat curry. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. 
7. Heat oven to 180degC. 
8. For this amount of macaroni, I used a 6" baking dish. 
9. Pour the curried macaroni into the baking dish. Press the mixture evenly with a spoon or a spatula. 
10. Whisk the egg together with the milk in a large cup. Pour the milk+egg mixture over the macaroni. 
11. Make sure the egg mixture fills up to top of the baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the top of macaroni and cheese mixture.
12. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven..
13. Serve warm.. I personally love it with chili sauce.. so Malaysian.. haha :) 

Go on.. give it a try it :) 

simple & delicious :D

Sardine Rolls for brunch :)

my brunch with a grande cup of
hazelnut white coffee:)

It's Sunday, and you have half a loaf of Gardenia bread that's supposed to have expired about a week ago in the fridge, so what's a girl to make? Sardine Rolls of course. I always have a small can of sardine in the pantry. For rainy days.. actually more like days like this when I don't feel like creating a buffet of dishes.. or simply felt like having easy snack like foods like this.

Since I already had an egg-milk mixture leftovers from the mini quiches I made for YM aunty yesterday... All I needed was to make the sardine rolls filling. It doesn't really matter how you want to shape the rolls.. I made it into a roll because I prefer it rolled. Some just make it in the triangle shapes. If it's in the triangular shape, then you need not roll the bread first with rolling pin. Simply cut it into triangles and sandwich the sardine mixture. That'll do. But that's no fun ;p

Ingredients:

Sardine mixture

1 can of Sardine (small can will make about 6-7 rolls)

onion (small - sliced thinly)

bird chili (I used 2 small one and sliced thinly for heat)

1-2 tbs lemon/lime juice (this to get rid of that sardine smell)

2 eggs (beaten) + a bit of salt

6-7 slices of white bread (rolled with rolling pin - or just use the back of the pan, lined and smack the bread)

oil for frying

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for sardine mixture together. I personally drained the tomato sauce in the sardine because I don't it to be too liquidy, thus absorbed by the bread and it becomes soggy. Plus it smells fishy.. :( Mash it up so the sardine is broken into smaller pieces.
2. Roll the bread with a rolling pin. Or if you don't have any rolling pins, use the back of your frying pan. Smack your bread with the back of your frying pan. Line it first though :p. This will make the bread easier to roll :)
3. Heat oil. I heated the pan first and then added the oil so the oil heats up quickly.
4. Take about a spoonful and a half of the sardine mixture and put it on the rolled bread. Just spread it on 1/3 of the bread. Roll it over.
5. Dip the rolled bread into the eggs and use the eggs to seal the bread.
6. Fry the roll in the heated oil until golden brown.

hehe my rolls.. a lil more brown than golden but who cares? :p