Ayam Kunyit

Last Friday, my grandson wanted the 'yellow gravy' over his rice for lunch. He told me that he likes it. I promised him I would cook it next Friday which is today.

Ayam Kunyit is a family favourite. This is one of my mum-in-law's 'agak-agak' recipes. Like her, I also cook the agak-agak(estimated) way. But for the sake of my daughters and friends who read my blog (I hope so), I took the time to measure the amount for each ingredient used. The method of cooking is just to 'dump' everything in and cook! That's how easy it is!! :)


Ingredients:

1.5 kg chicken, cut into choice size

400g peeled onions or about 5 medium-sized onions
30g turmeric (kunyit) or 3 1/2 pieces (see pic)
2 stalks lemon grass (serai), sliced thinly (picture shows the length required)

1 stalk lemon grass, bruised (use a pestle to knock the stalk)
4 to 5 kaffir lime leaves

From 1 1/2 fresh coconut, 1 cup thick coconut milk and
3 cups second coconut milk

OR

800 ml coconut cream from packet
1 to 2 cups water

salt to taste


Method:

1. Grind onions, lemon grass and turmeric together till fine and put into a pot.

2. Add water and bruised lemon grass and bring to a boil.

3. Once mixture is boiling, add the chicken and half of the coconut milk or cream.

4. Stir to mix and bring to a boil till chicken is about cooked, then add the rest of the coconut milk and boil till chicken is done. Add in the kaffir lime leaves, cover and remove from stove.

5. Serve with sambal belachan and rice.



Picture shows the exact portion of ingredients.


The chicken looks 'naked' because I removed the skin.

The layer of oil came from the coconut milk. If coconut milk is boiled too long, it becomes oily. I overboiled after adding the coconut milk because I was interrupted and that led to my giving the dish a double dose of salt. To salvage it, I had to use a small packet of coconut cream with a little water. Thank goodness it didn't taste so salty! Btw, the gravy should be thickish and not watery.

Macarons

I've read a lot about making MACARONs. The feedback was that macarons are supposed to have "feet" after baking. It means that every piece of the macarons should rise like a little smooth mound and have a rough-looking edge around the base after baking. Judging by the numerous attempts that many had to get it right sounded intimidating and I hesitated........

Well, I decided to take up the challenge and this was what came out of it.

Ingredients for plain macarons:

80g egg whites, to be left overnight before use
65g caster sugar

80g ground almond
140g icing sugar
colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Put almond and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times. This is to make the ground almond extra fine and well-mixed with the icing sugar. Sift the almond mix.

2. Put egg white and sugar in a bowl and warm it in a container of hot water just to dissolve the sugar. Do not overheat.

3. Whisk egg white mix till soft peaks, then add a drop of colouring if required.

4. Continue to whisk till it is stiff but not dry. Do not overbeat.

5. Gently fold in the almond mix in four portions into the egg whites. The batter should be slightly thicker than a cake mix.

6. Fill up a piping bag and pipe out round shapes onto a tray lined with ungreased parchment paper.

7. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Then baked in a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees C for 20 to 25 minutes.

8. To remove the macarons, place the parchment paper on a piece of damp cloth and slowly use a spatula to remove them.

9. Cool and sandwich with any cream of choice.




I am quite pleased with the results, but I won't make them again as I find them toooo sweet!
I stored the macarons plain and only sandwich it with nutella or peanut butter when I want to eat them.

"Keema" Curry My Way

Anything curry or spicy goes down well with my husband. I try to cook such dishes as often as possible. I cook the healthier version as compared to those served at food courts or hawker centres. Less oil, healthier type of oil, less salt and better cuts of meat with minimum fat make a 'healthidelicious' meal.

This dish is easy to prepare. It is usually eaten with french loaf, baguette or roti prata.

What I used:

200g minced meat (I minced the meat myself. Avoid buying ready minced meat as they contain a lot of fat)

1 1/2 packet curry powder for meat, mixed with some water to a paste (I used Earthern Pot brand and they come in packets of 50g)

3 large onions, chopped finely or ground
3 cloves garlic, chopped or ground
1 cm thick ginger, grated or ground
some curry leaves
coriander leaves, chopped

1/2 carrot, grated finely or chopped
3 potatoes, cubed
2 large tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoon milk or coconut cream (optional)

salt to taste
some water, depending on how much gravy you want
oil for frying spices

other possible additions : chick peas, green peas

What I did:

1. Heat enough oil and fry onions, garlic and ginger for 1 minute or so.

2. Add in the curry paste and some curry leaves and stir fry continuously till fragrant.

3. Then add in carrot, potatoes, meat and some water and stir to mix.

4. Add sufficient water, cover and simmer. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the base of pot.

5. When potatoes are about done, add in tomatoes, coconut cream and some curry leaves and salt to taste.

6. Bring to boil and turn off heat.

7. Garnish with chopped coriander before serving.

Another Banana Recipe

What you will need:

120g raisins boiled in 50 ml rum and 25 ml water, cool

270g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

100g butter, melted and cool
55 ml olive oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 just ripe bananas, cubed

80g pine nuts

How it is done:

1. Sift flour and all dry ingredients together.

2. Beat butter, oil, essence and sugar at medium speed and add in the eggs one at a time.

3. Mix in the mashed bananas and then add flour in two parts, mixing well each time.

4. Finally add in the cubed bananas, raisins and nuts. Mix till combined.

5. Pour into three 15-cm greased and lined round tins. Bake at pre-heated oven 160 degrees C for 35 to 40 minutes.






The cake is moist and not as dense as my previous recipe. I bake it in low tins so that it takes a shorter time to bake and the cake will not be dry.

Thai Prawn Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing

My daughter had some friends over for potluck. She wanted to go Thai and came across a very easy-to-prepare salad. She sliced the fruits and I helped her with the prawns. The prawns had to be simmer-cooked and timing had to be precise to make them crunchy and not overdone. I didn't want to waste the prawn heads and shells, so I made prawn stock and freezed it for future use.

What you need in this salad:

12 large or 20 medium-sized prawns
3 tablespoons lime juice (big lime used in Thai cooking)
2 teaspoons lime rind, finely grated
3 or 4 teaspoons soft brown sugar

1 or 2 oranges
1 mango
1 capsicum
a few slices of pineapple

1/2 cup coconut cream (I used 1/2 packet Kara coconut cream)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
fresh coriander leaves
kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded

What you have to do:

1. Remove the heads of the prawns and shell the prawn leaving the tail intact. Slit the back of the prawns and devein.

2. Prepare a pot of salted water (make sure it is salty and don't worry about the high salt content) and bring to boil. Lower heat and put the prawns in until they turn red. Remove the prawns immediately the moment they turn red (this is crucial to get it crunchy and not hard) and douse them straightaway into a bowl of iced water (salt all washed away!). Allow the prawns to cool, then drain.

3. Mix lime juice, rind and brown sugar. Add in the cool prawns and mix. Set aside for 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile prepare the fruits. Remove the skin and pith of the orange and cut into segments.
Peel the mango and slice in thick strips. Slice capsicum into strips.

5. Arrange the fruits on a serving plate and place the prawns in the centre.

6. Mix the coconut cream and fish sauce together. Heat slightly over low fire. Cool and drizzle over the salad. Garnish with coriander leaves and kaffir lime leaves.
(The fruits and prawns were refrigerated before drizzling the cream and it turned out to be a cold salad.)



The pictures were taken by my daughter. She did the arrangement but forgot the garnishing.

Chocolate & Cream Cheese Slice

I came across this recipe while surfing food blogs. This is the result of my attempt.
A few things I should have done to get it right.
(1) I should have allowed the cream cheese mixture to set properly in the freezer as recommended. Before the cheese mixture could set properly, I poured in the cake layer causing the cream cheese to flow to the side of the tin. (See picture and note the uneven layers)

(2) I should have used a 9-inch square tin. Instead I used an 8-inch round tin. This caused the layers to be thicker and it took a longer time to bake. It took 1 hour and 10 minutes to be done instead of 50 minutes.

There are 3 layers to this chocolate cheese slice.

1st Layer: (biscuit)

60g butter, melted and cool
65g plain flour and 2 tablespoons cocoa, sifted together
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Grease a 9-inch square tin and line with parchment paper.

1. Mix flour, cocoa and sugar.

2. Pour in butter, milk and vanilla essence and mix with flour to form a dough.

3. Press dough evenly onto the base of the tin and freeze for 30 minutes.

4. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C.

5. Bake the base direct from freezer for 20 minutes. Remove and cool.


2nd Layer: (cream)

250g cream cheese
65g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1. Cream cheese and sugar till light and fluffy.

2. Add egg and vanilla essence and mix till smooth.

3. Pour over the 1st layer and freeze for 30 to 40 minutes to set the cheese mixture.


3rd Layer: (brownie)

125g milk chocolate, chopped
125g butter
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
35g plain flour, sifted

Icing sugar for dusting top

1. Melt butter and chocolate and stir till smooth. Leave to cool.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar till thick.

3. Stir eggs into chocolate mixture with a wooden spoon.

4. Then fold in flour gently.

5. Pour over the cream cheese layer and bake at 106 degrees C for about 50 minutes or till top layer is firm to the touch.

6. Remove from the tin and dust top with icing sugar. Cool before slicing.



Overbaking probably caused the top to crack.

The 3 layers should be evenly spread. Note the uneven cream layer and the thick cake layer.
Though it turned out disastrous-looking, it tasted fine.(Looks aren't everything.)

Short Crust Pastry

Pastry recipes vary. Making pastry is easy. For the occasional bakers, it is almost foolproof.
Sweet pastry and shortcrust pastry are easy to do. Puff pastry and choux pastry require some careful attention to the tips given.

I have a tub of pineapple jam leftover from cny. Pineapple jam can last for more than six months if it is cooked properly and has the right amount of sugar added (sugar is a form of preservative).

I didn't want to make the usual cny pineapple tarts, so I decided to use one of my many shortcrust pastry recipes to make little tartlets. I was too lazy to decorate it and left them 'bald'.

Recipe for Shortcrust Pastry:

250g plain flour
150g butter, from the fridge
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg yolk
About 2 to 3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

This is what I did:

1. Sift flour. Cube the butter and rub into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add sugar and mix well. Then add egg yolk, water and essence and mix to form a dough.
Do not knead.

3. Wrap dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

4. Roll dough between 2 plastic sheets (prevents sticking to rolling pin) to desired thickness.

5. Cut out the shape or size required and press into pastry moulds.

6. Prick a couple of holes on the base before putting in the filling.

7. Bake at pre-heated oven 160 degrees C for about 20 minutes.