Seared Madras Fish & Green Beans with Peanuts & Shallots

I now love green beans.. like seriously! 

Wow.. it's been a while huh? I haven't done much cooking the past week or so.. I've gained too much weight :p Anyway, to make up for the missing days.. I'll put up 2 recipes. They are actually recipes from my favorite chefs on AFC, Nigella Lawson and Laura Calder. :) I saw Laura Calder made her green beans recipe and I thought.. urghh who eats green beans! yucks.. I know right? but this recipe is to die for. It's sooo good! She used hazelnuts but ermm.. it's expensive. Peanuts are cheaper. I used that ;) The other recipe I found in Nigella's book, Nigella Express. It's called Madras Fish for a reason. It uses MAdras curry powder .. I didn't have any. Didn't even know what that was until I saw some sold at Cold Storage. So I changed the recipe a bit. Used the normal fish curry powder instead. I used some kind of white fish .. I have no idea what it was. LOL but I guess any of your favorite fish would do. Just make sure that the fish is defrost thoroughly and doesn't smell. if it does wash it with turmeric juice. that should do it. Nigella used Salmon .. and fried it using garlic infused oil. Don't worry if you don't have it.. hahaha :) I used vegetable oil.

Seared Madras Fish (inspired by Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients:

white fish
2-3 tbsp fish curry powder
salt, pepper
oil for frying

Method

1. Mix the curry powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Rub the mixture on the fish thoroughly. 
2. Heat the pan with oil and cook the fish on high heat for 2-3 minutes a side. Sear the sides if the fish is too thick. 
3. Serve on a plate. 

Green beans with Peanuts and Shallots

Ingredients:

Green Beans
2-3 tbsp fried peanuts (chopped)
2 shallots (minced)
salt, pepper
lemon juice to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Boil the green beans in salted water until tender. Drain and rinse in cold running water to set color. 
2. Heat oil in skillet. Add the shallots for 1 minute.
3. Toss in the green beans until heated through
4. Add salt and pepper. Squirt a bit of lemon juice. Remove from heat
5. Toss in the chopped peanuts. 
6. Serve with the madras fish. 

Madras Fish & Green Beans with Peanuts & Shallots

It's so elegant and so easy that no one would know you spent less than half hour to make this dish ;) Have fun in the kitchen!

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!

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 :)