Very Fluffy Donuts :)

I eat them as is :D

When I first moved into my apartment, among the first things I learned how to make was these fluffy donuts. I learned how to freeze them and gave them to my sisters.. My nieces love them so I bought this really tiny donut mold and have been making frozen fluffy donuts since. :)

They are perfect for tea.. late night supper... those unexpected guests.... They are so darn easy to make.. but they take a bit of time to make as the recipe calls for yeast and you need time to let it rise.. but the result is very fluffy donuts.. who wouldn't want that? :D

I usually fry the donuts and eat as it is. My nieces do that also.. but feel free to sprinkle with icing sugar.. or dip it in chocolate.. ;) it uses condensed milk.. but you may substitute it with milk plus a bit of sugar. :)

Ingredients:

1kg flour
11g instant yeast (1 pkt)
2 tablespoon condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
550g water (room temperature)
oil for frying

Method:

1. Mix salt, milk and water. Use water at room temperature only.
2. Mix yeast and flour well. 
3. Add oil to the flour mixture well until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. 
4. Add the milk mixture to the oil-flour mixture and mix them well. It will become a very moist and sticky dough but no problem. Knead a bit and let it rest for 15-20 minutes
5. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. Add flour if necessary. Not too much or the donuts will be tough if too much flour is used. 
6. If you have a donut mold, roll the dough on a floured surface to about 1 cm thickness and cut out using the mold. Let it rest on floured plate before frying it. 
7. Otherwise divide the dough into mini balls. Press the dough balls and make holes using your finger. 
8. Fry the donuts until light brown. 
9. To freeze the donuts, fry the donuts quickly to stop the yeast from rising. Cool them and keep them in a tightly sealed container. Freeze them. It can last for a long time in the freezer. Defrost them completely before frying :D

Lightly fried so I can freeze them :)

Easy peasy...  Enjoy!

Easy Chocolate Pistachio Sultana Fudge

cut into little squares and keep in freezer. 

it tastes heavenly! 

I have a breakfast tweetup on Saturday and I thought I should probably bring something for the tweetup. Someone once told me it's polite to bring something if you go to someone's house.. and I've tried to that everytime ever since. I wasn't usually like this. haha :p but now it feels like a necessary thing to do.. :) At first I thought of buying some fruits or something.. as the main menu is Nasi Lemak.. but ermm.. that'd be boring. LOL. Then of course I flipped through Nigella Lawson's magical recipe book.. Nigella Express.. and I saw the Chocolate Pistachio Fudge recipe. It's so easy only the ingredients are quite expensive. But it's fudge. I doubt people would go for seconds. It's too sweet. Right? ermm.. I hope so. hihihi :D

I added some sultanas as I still had some in the fridge. I bought already shelled roasted pistachios. Definitely more expensive but it saves time.. and energy by like a mile. I am not sure if we can substitute the nuts.. why don't you try and tell me about it..? :D

I've altered the recipe a bit. The recipe can be found here.. :)

Ingredients

350g Chocolate Buttons
3/4 can condensed milk (1can = 505g)
30g butter
150g Pistachios
a handful sultanas
salt

Method

1. Put the Chocolate Buttons, condensed milk, butter and salt in the pan at low heat and stir until melt. 
2. Chop the nuts. I did what Nigella did. I put them in a bag, and bash them with a rolling pin. Not only it makes you feel great, it gives the nuts different textures.. :) cool :D
3. Add the nuts and sultanas into the chocolate and condensed milk mixture and mix well.
4. Pour the mixture into a foil tray (23cm square) and smooth the top.
5. Let the fudge cool and then put it into the refrigerator to set. Once set, cut into squares.
6. Keep the squares in the freezer. TO be eaten cold! 

Enjoy!

Caramel Bread Pudding

my favorite recipe book ever! 

I was a bit down today and decided to meet up a friend of mine. She's just given birth to a beautiful baby girl and I haven't even paid both the baby and the proud mummy a visit. As the decision was last minute. I decided to make a quick dish. Something that a mummy in confinement and a grandmother can eat. Something simple and delicious. I took out my Nigella Express book .. there it is.. caramel croissant pudding.

I didn't have croissant.. not even stale croissants.. but I did have white bread. The recipe also called for full milk and heavy cream for the custard.. I didn't have either. But I did have lots of low fat milk. :D Nigella also added bourbon.. she said if you don't have bourbon.. use sherry.. ermm.. I don't drink. So vanilla essence it is :p 

I'm going to give my version of Nigella Lawson's recipe. But here is the link to her recipe. 

Ingredients:

5-6 slices of white bread

100g caster sugar (less than 1/2 cup) 

2 tablespoon water

250ml low fat milk (1 cup)

a splash of vanilla essence (1 tbsp)

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup raisins/sultanas/cherries for toppings

so divine! 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180degC
2. Tear the bread into pieces and put in a small dish. I used a small 6" aluminum foil. 
3. Put the caster sugar and the water into a pan. Swirl around to dissolve the sugar before putting the pan on medium/high heat. Don't stir!
4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, DON'T STIR!, until it all turns a deep amber color. It takes about 3-5 minutes. Don't be too timid.. but keep looking to avoid the caramel to burn :D
5. Once you have that amber color, turn the heat down low and add the milk. Ignore the spluttering, and whisk away the milk. The solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve if u keep whisking over low heat.
6. After the toffee has dissolved, take the pan off the heat, still whisking, add the beaten eggs. 
7. Congratulations you've just made caramel custard. :) 
8. Pour the caramel custard over the bread and leave to steep for a few minutes if the breads are very stale.
9. Sprinkle with raisins/cherries/sultanas.. whatever you like. I had lots of raisins so I used those. :) 
10. Bake for 20 minutes in the heated oven.  
11. Like Nigella said in her book.. Prepare to swoon! :D  

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... 

Kerabu Bihun (Thai Vermicelli Salad)

I'm supposed to be on diet. I've gained too much weight the past few months. Probably of all the cake recipes I've been testing and trying.. So I thought perhaps for dinner I'd just have salad. Not just any salad, Thai inspired Salad. I saw the recipe online once... but it's kinda too complicated.. Too many ingredients that I wasn't even sure what they were.. then I saw Nigella made it on tv. It's really simple. Like that Chef who's been Chasing the Yum said, it's all about balance..

Ingredients:

Salad:
Vermicelli - blanched
bean sprouts - blanched
tofu - diced and deep fried
carrot - julienned
egg - boiled (optional - can also use chicken or seafood or meat... your choice)
coriander

Vinaigrette:
Extra virgin Olive Oil (or other neutral flavored oil - soybean oil/canola oil)
lime juice (3 parts oil to 1 part lime juice)
bird chili - sliced
honey/sugar to taste
fish sauce/salt to taste
shallots/ green onions/onions (i used onions.. it's the only thing I had at home)  (sliced)
garlic (minced)
ginger (julienned)

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Set aside. 
2. Mix the Salad ingredient and toss in the vinaigrette. Mix well. :)
3. Indulge :D

sila makan :D

Tomato-Cilantro Bruschetta

The SEA Games football match between Malaysia and Cambodia just ended and I was starving.. But I didn't want to cook and I wanted something light. Since my vege intake today has only been onions.. I thought of going vegetarian tonight. :)

Tomato-Cilantro Bruschetta

For times like these... I thanked God for Bruschetta. In Italian, bruschetta is pronounced [brusˈkeːtta]. It's an antipasto recipe originated from Italy. Usually consists of roasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. There are many variation to this bruschetta which includes toppings of tomatoes, avocado, cheese, meat.... It makes a great snack or appetizer.. Also great if you want to have something light for dinner. :)

For this recipe, I used the wholemeal loaf I bought from Carrefour. I simply love that bread. It's soft, delicious and it's cheap. It's very versatile too. I use it all the time for mini pizzas, bruschetta, garlic bread.. endless possibilities. :)

This recipe is enough for one.. or two if you're generous. If you're like me.. it'll only be enough for one ;p Enjoy the recipe :D

Ingredients:

3 slices of bread (sprinkled with olive oil)
1 small tomato chopped
some cilantro coarsely chopped
3 parts extra virgin olive oil
1 part lemon juice

black pepper and salt for seasoning

From Top Left: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon, Cilantro/Coriander, Tomato, Lightly Oiled Bread.

Method:

Toast the bread in 180degC oven for about 10 minutes

Toasted bread

Mix Tomato, Cilantro or Coriander, Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season it with black pepper and salt. 

Tomato mixture

Top the tomato mixture on the toasted bread evenly.

Bruschetta ready to be eaten :) 

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